Floral grouping wrapper having a detachable portion

ABSTRACT

A method for wrapping a wrapper about a floral grouping wherein the wrapper is a sleeve or sheet of material having a cinching tab or strip of bonding material or both and a detaching means such as perforations for detaching a portion of the sleeve or sheet of material. The floral grouping is placed on the sheet of material which is wrapped thereabout, or the floral grouping is disposed in the interior space of the sleeve. The cinching tab is attached near one end of the sheet or sleeve. The cinching tab has a bonding material disposed thereon which, when the cinching tab is pulled tightly about the wrapper, causes the wrapper to be crimped and tightly bound about the stems of the floral grouping. When a sheet or sleeve having a strip of bonding material is used, the portion of the wrapper having the strip of bonding material is crimped manually or automatically about a portion of the stems of the floral grouping causing portions of the wrapper to overlap and bond to each other causing the wrapper to be held firmly about the stems of the floral grouping. The wrapper may further comprise an additional strip of bonding material for bonding an informational card or label to the wrapper. After the wrapper is wrapped about the floral grouping, a portion of the wrapper may be removed by using the detaching means, thereby leaving a portion of the wrapper wrapped or bound about the floral grouping.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No.08/095,331, filed Jul. 21, 1993, entitled “METHOD FOR CRIMPING A WRAPPERABOUT A FLORAL GROUPING”, which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser.No. 07/963,882, filed Oct. 20, 1992, entitled WRAPPING MATERIAL HAVING APULL TAB AND PULL INDICIA FOR BOTH WRAPPING A FLORAL ARRANGEMENT ANDREMOVING THE WRAPPING MATERIAL FROM A FLORAL ARRANGEMENT AND METHOD,which is a continuation-in-part of U.S. Ser. No. 07/649,379, filed Jan.31, 1991, entitled METHOD FOR WRAPPING AN OBJECT WITH A MATERIAL HAVINGPRESSURE SENSITIVE ADHESIVE THEREON, now U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,638, whichis a continuation of U.S. Ser. No. 07/249,761, filed Sep. 26, 1988,entitled METHOD FOR WRAPPING AN OBJECT WITH A MATERIAL HAVING PRESSURESENSITIVE ADHESIVE THEREON, now ABANDONED.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0002]FIG. 1 is a plan view of a sheet of material with one end turnedup and constructed in accordance with the present invention.

[0003]FIG. 2 is a plan view of a second sheet of material with one endturned up and constructed in accordance with the present invention.

[0004]FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the first and the secondsheets of material disposed adjacent each other.

[0005]FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing bonding areas on the surfaceof a first sheet or a second sheet which cause bonding of the secondsheet and the first sheet.

[0006]FIG. 5 is a sectional view of a modified first and second sheetsof material.

[0007]FIG. 6 is another cross-sectional view of a modified first sheetof material connected to a modified second sheet of material.

[0008]FIG. 7 is a cross sectional view of still another modified firstsheet of material connected to a modified second sheet of material.

[0009]FIG. 8 is another cross-sectional view of yet another modifiedfirst sheet of material connected to a modified second sheet ofmaterial.

[0010]FIG. 9 is a diagrammatic view of a plurality of sheets ofmaterial, constructed in accordance with the present invention forming acontinuous roll, the roll partially unrolled to reveal a single sheetstill attached thereto.

[0011]FIG. 10 is a diagrammatic view of a plurality of sheets ofmaterial forming a continuous roll of material disposed in a dispenser.

[0012]FIG. 11 is a diagrammatic view showing a roll of material whereinthe roll of material comprises a first and a second sheet of materialconstructed in accordance with the present invention disposed in adispenser (diagrammatically shown in FIG. 11) for dispensing the firstand the second sheets of material from the roll of material.

[0013]FIG. 12 is a side elevational view of a pad of first and secondsheets of material constructed in accordance with the present invention.

[0014]FIG. 13 is a perspective view of a floral arrangement disposed ona sheet of material.

[0015]FIG. 14 is a perspective view of the floral arrangement of FIG. 13being wrapped in one method of wrapping.

[0016]FIG. 15 is a perspective view of the floral arrangement wrapped ina conical fashion.

[0017]FIG. 16 is a perspective view of the conical floral arrangementwith the cinching tab wrapped tightly about the wrapper.

[0018]FIG. 17 is a perspective view of another method of using a sheetof material to wrap a floral arrangement in a cylindrical fashion.

[0019]FIG. 18 is a perspective view of a cylindrically wrapped floralgrouping having the cinching tab wrapped tightly about the wrapper.

[0020]FIG. 19A is a plan view of a sheet of material constructed inaccordance with the present invention having a first strip and a secondstrip of bonding material applied to a portion of the upper surfacethereof.

[0021]FIG. 19B is a side elevational view of the sheet of material ofFIG. 19A.

[0022]FIG. 20A is a plan view of a sheet of material having a firststrip of bonding material on the upper surface and a second strip ofbonding material applied to the lower surface thereof.

[0023]FIG. 20B is a side elevational view of the embodiment of FIG. 20A.

[0024]FIG. 21 is a perspective view of the sheet of material of FIG. 19Aand having a floral grouping disposed thereon.

[0025]FIG. 22 is a perspective view of the sheet of material and thefloral grouping of FIG. 21 showing the method used to wrap the sheet ofmaterial about the floral grouping.

[0026]FIG. 23 is a perspective view of the sheet of material of FIG. 22wrapped completely about the floral grouping in a conical fashion.

[0027]FIG. 24 is a perspective view of the wrapper and floral groupingof FIG. 23 which indicates how the second bonding portion of the wrapperhas been crimped about the stems of the flowers to form a bound area ofthe wrapper.

[0028]FIG. 25 is a perspective view of the sheet of material of FIG. 21wrapped about a floral grouping in a cylindric manner.

[0029]FIG. 26 is a perspective view of the cylindric wrapper of FIG. 25showing the second bonding material crimped about the stems of thefloral grouping.

[0030]FIG. 27 is a perspective view of the sheet of material of FIG. 20Aand having a floral grouping disposed on the upper surface thereof.

[0031]FIG. 28 is a perspective view of the sheet of material and thefloral grouping of FIG. 27 showing the method used to wrap the sheet ofmaterial about the floral grouping.

[0032]FIG. 29 is a perspective view of the sheet of material of FIG. 28wrapped completely about the floral grouping in a conical fashion.

[0033]FIG. 30 is a perspective view of the wrapper and floral groupingof FIG. 29 which indicates how the second bonding portion of the wrapperhas been crimped about the stems of the flowers to form a bound area ofthe wrapper.

[0034]FIG. 31 is a perspective view of the sheet of material of FIG. 27wrapped about a floral grouping in a cylindric manner.

[0035]FIG. 32 is a perspective view of the cylindric wrapper of FIG. 31showing the second bonding material crimped about the stems of thefloral grouping.

[0036]FIG. 33 is a plan view of a wrapper comprising a first sheet and asecond sheet and having a double-sided bonding material and releasestrip upon one surface of the wrapper.

[0037]FIG. 34 is a side elevational view of the wrapper of FIG. 33indicating the seal between the first and second sheet.

[0038]FIG. 35 is a perspective view of the wrapper of FIG. 33 after afloral grouping has been disposed within the wrapper interior andfurther shows the release strip partially detached from the bondingmaterial on the wrapper.

[0039]FIG. 36 is a perspective view of the wrapper and floral groupingof FIG. 33 showing one way in which the wrapper can be folded about thestems of the floral grouping.

[0040]FIG. 37 is a perspective view of the wrapper and floral groupingof FIG. 36 once the wrapper has been folded about the stems and cinchedusing the closure bonding material.

[0041]FIG. 38 is a plan view of a wrapper similar to the wrapper of FIG.33 except having a cinching tab attached thereto rather than a bondingstrip.

[0042]FIG. 39 is a side elevational view of the wrapper of FIG. 38.

[0043]FIG. 40 is a perspective view of the wrapper of FIG. 38 having thefloral grouping disposed within the interior thereof.

[0044]FIG. 41 is a perspective view of the wrapper and floral groupingof FIG. 40 and further showing the cinching tab cinching a portion ofthe wrapper tightly about the stems of the floral grouping.

[0045]FIG. 42 is a plan view showing a wrapper exactly the same as thewrappers of FIGS. 33 and 38 except having a closure bonding materialdisposed within the inner surfaces of the wrapper.

[0046]FIG. 43 is a side elevational view of the wrapper of FIG. 42showing the disposition of the closure bonding material upon the innersurfaces of the wrapper.

[0047]FIG. 44 is a plan view showing the wrapper of FIG. 42 having afloral grouping disposed within the interior thereof.

[0048]FIG. 45 is a perspective view of the wrapper and floral groupingof FIG. 44 and showing the wrapper crimped tightly about the stems ofthe floral grouping and held thereto by the closure bonding materialdisposed within the wrapper.

[0049]FIG. 46 is a plan view of a wrapper similar to the wrappers shownin FIGS. 38 and 42 and having both a cinching tab and a closure bondingmaterial disposed upon the inner surfaces of the wrapper.

[0050]FIG. 47 is a side elevational view of the wrapper of FIG. 46.

[0051]FIG. 48 is a perspective view of the wrapper of FIG. 46 and havinga floral grouping disposed within the interior thereof.

[0052]FIG. 49 is a perspective view of the wrapper and the floralgrouping of FIG. 48 after the closure bonding material has been crimpedabout the stems of the floral grouping and after the cinching tab hasbeen cinched tightly about the stems of the floral grouping.

[0053]FIG. 50 is a perspective view of a wrapper similar to the wrapperof FIG. 42 except that the closure bonding material is disposed upon theouter surfaces of the wrapper.

[0054]FIG. 51 is a side elevational view of the wrapper of FIG. 50.

[0055]FIG. 52 is a perspective view of the wrapper of FIG. 50 showing afloral grouping disposed within the interior thereof.

[0056]FIG. 53 is a perspective view of the wrapper and floral groupingof FIG. 52 showing the external closure bonding material crimped tightlyand causing the wrapper to be engaged tightly about the stems of thefloral grouping.

[0057]FIG. 54 is a perspective view of a wrapper comprising elements ofthe wrapper of FIG. 38 and the wrapper of FIG. 50 wherein the wrapperhas both a cinching tab and closure bonding material disposed on aportion of the outer surface of the wrapper.

[0058]FIG. 55 is a side elevational view of the wrapper of FIG. 54.

[0059]FIG. 56 is a perspective of the wrapper of FIG. 54 having a floralgrouping disposed within the interior thereof.

[0060]FIG. 57 is a perspective view of the wrapper and floral groupingof FIG. 56 and showing the wrapper crimped about the stems of the floralgrouping by the closure bonding material further showing the cinchingtab cinched tightly about the stems of the floral grouping.

[0061]FIG. 58 is a plan view of a wrapper constructed in accordance withthe present invention having a cinching tab attached thereto furtherhaving a lower end flap and an upper end flap.

[0062]FIG. 59 is a perspective view of a sheet of material having abonding material on a surface thereof for holding a card or label havingfloral indicia thereon.

[0063]FIG. 60 is a perspective view of the floral grouping and sheet ofFIG. 59 being wrapped in one method of wrapping.

[0064]FIG. 61 is a perspective view of the floral grouping and sheet ofFIG. 59 wrapped in a conical fashion.

[0065]FIG. 62 is a perspective view of another method of using the sheetof material of FIG. 59 to wrap a floral grouping in a cylindricalfashion and showing a card having floral indicia affixed to the wrapper.

[0066]FIG. 63 shows a floral grouping and a sheet of material having aclosure tab and a strip of material for holding a card or label bearingfloral indicia.

[0067]FIG. 64 shows the sheet of material of FIG. 63 being wrapped aboutthe floral grouping.

[0068]FIG. 65 shows the floral grouping and sheet of material of FIG. 63wrapped in a conical fashion.

[0069]FIG. 66 shows the sheet of material of FIG. 63 wrapped about thefloral grouping in a cylindrical fashion.

[0070]FIG. 67 is a plan view of a wrapper comprising a first surface anda second surface and having a bonding material disposed upon a portionof the interior portion of the surfaces thereof.

[0071]FIG. 68 is a side view of the wrapper of FIG. 67.

[0072]FIG. 69 is a plan view of a wrapper having a first surface and asecond surface and having a bonding material disposed upon a portion ofthe interior portions of the surfaces thereof and further having aclosure tab.

[0073]FIG. 70 is a side view of the wrapper of FIG. 69.

[0074]FIG. 71 is a side view of a sheet of material having a strip ofbonding material on the upper surface and another strip of bondingmaterial on the lower surface, the two strips generally opposite eachother.

[0075]FIG. 72 is a side view of a sheet of material having a strip ofbonding material on the upper surface and a strip of bonding material onthe lower surface and wherein the two strips of material are oriented ina generally offset orientation to each other.

[0076]FIG. 73 is a side view of a sheet of material having a singlestrip of closure bonding material on one surface and two separate stripsof closure bonding material on the lower surface thereof.

[0077]FIG. 74 is a side view of sheet of material having two separatestrips of bonding material on the upper surface and a single strip ofbonding material separate therefrom on the lower surface of the sheet.

[0078]FIG. 75 is a perspective view of a wrapped floral grouping with anupper portion of the wrapper detached to expose the floral grouping.

[0079]FIG. 76 is a perspective view of a wrapped floral grouping with anentire upper portion of the wrapper detached to expose the floralgrouping.

[0080]FIG. 77 is a perspective view of another wrapped floral groupingwith an upper portion of the wrapper detached.

[0081]FIG. 78 is a perspective view of another wrapped floral groupingwith an entire upper portion of the wrapper detached.

[0082]FIG. 79 is a perspective view of yet another wrapped floralgrouping with an upper portion of the wrapper detached.

[0083]FIG. 80 is a perspective view of yet another wrapped floralgrouping with an entire upper portion of the wrapper detached.

DESCRIPTION

[0084] The present invention relates generally to the wrapping of afloral grouping with a wrapper and crimping at least a portion of thewrapper about the stem portion of the floral grouping whereby thecrimped area of the wrapper is bound together with a bonding materialand wherein a portion of the wrapper is detachable from the portion ofthe wrapper left wrapped about the floral grouping.

[0085] Packers of floral groupings such as bouquets often complain thatfloral grouping wrappers such as commercially-available “sleeves” arenot the correct size at the lower end of the sleeve. Therefore, thepacker must use some type of band or tie at the lower end of the sleeveto take up the extra sleeve material and to tightly wrap the sleeveabout the stems of the floral grouping to inhibit the bouquet fromspreading apart or slipping from the wrapper.

[0086] Therefore, an object of the present invention is to increase theease and quickness with which a wrapper can be applied about a floralgrouping and held firmly about the stems of the floral grouping withoutrelying on the additional step of applying a separate band or tie aboutthe wrapper, and further to optionally affix an informational label tothe wrapper and to further allow the portion of the wrapper disposedabout the floral grouping, or a portion of the floral grouping, to beremoved while allowing the remainder to be wrapped about the floralgrouping.

[0087] As noted above, the present invention is a method for wrapping afloral grouping. One version of the invention comprises providing afloral grouping, and a wrapper. The wrapper may be a floral sleeve ofthe type which is well known in the floral wrapping art or it may be asheet of material. The wrapper has a crimp connector for firmly holdingoverlapping portions of the wrapper in a crimped position adjacent thestem portion of the floral grouping. The wrapper further comprisesperforations or other detaching means for allowing a portion of thewrapper to be detached. The crimp connector may further comprise abonding material, or a cinching tab, or both. The floral grouping isplaced into the interior space of the wrapper and the wrapper is boundabout the floral grouping by crimping portions of the wrapper togetherwith the crimp connector thereby forming a crimped portion of thewrapper and firmly binding the wrapper in a position about the floralgrouping. The wrapper may further comprise a closure flap extending fromthe wrapper for enclosing either the upper end or the lower end oralternatively, both the upper end and lower end of the wrapper. Thewrapper may further comprise a label bonding material for affixing alabel to a portion of the wrapper. When the wrapper is a sheet ofmaterial, the sheet of material may have a sheet connector forconnecting overlapping portions of the sheet of material in a conical orcylindrical form about the floral grouping. The method further comprisesdetaching the removable portion of the wrapper for exposing the floralgrouping, or a portion thereof.

[0088] In one version of the present invention, the method comprisesproviding a floral grouping and a wrapper having an upper end and alower end. The wrapper has an inner surface which surrounds an interiorspace, and an outer surface. The inner surface has a first side and asecond side with the first side opposite the second side. The outersurface has a first outer side and a second outer side with the firstouter side opposite the second outer side, and the first outer side andthe second outer side separated by the interior space. The wrapperfurther comprises a crimp connecting means comprising a bonding materialdisposed upon a portion of either or both the inner surface and outersurface, for holding overlapping portions of the wrapper in a crimpedposition adjacent the stem portion of the floral grouping. The wrapperfurther comprises detaching means for detaching a portion of the wrapperafter the wrapper has been bound about the floral grouping.

[0089] The method further comprises the step of placing the floralgrouping into the interior space of the wrapper and binding the wrapperabout the floral grouping by crimping portions of the wrapper togethercausing at least one portion of the wrapper to overlap at least oneother portion of the wrapper, the crimp connecting means engaging theoverlapping portions of the wrapper together in a position surroundingand adjacent the stem portion of the floral grouping forming a crimpedportion of the wrapper thereby firmly binding the wrapper in a positionabout the floral grouping.

[0090] In another version of the present invention, the first step ofthe method is providing a floral grouping having an upper end and a stemportion, and providing a wrapper. The wrapper may be further defined ashaving a first surface and a second surface such as is typical of thetype of wrapper known in the art as a sleeve. The first surface has aninner surface, an outer surface, an upper end, a lower end, a left-handside and a right-hand side. The second surface has an inner surface, anouter surface, an upper end, a lower end, a left-hand side and aright-hand side. Either the first surface or the second surface, or boththe first and second surface have a detaching means for allowing aportion of the first surface, second surface, or both first and secondsurfaces to be detached from the wrapper.

[0091] The first surface and the second surface are disposed flatwiseupon each other with the inner surface of the first surface facing theinner surface of the second surface. Furthermore, the left-hand side ofthe first surface and the left-hand side of the second surface aresealed together and the right-hand side of the first surface and theright-hand side of the second surface are sealed together forming aninterior space between the first surface and the second surface and intowhich a floral grouping is disposable.

[0092] The wrapper further comprises a crimp connector for holdingoverlapping portions of the wrapper in a crimped position adjacent thestem portion of the floral grouping. The crimp connector furthercomprises a bonding material.

[0093] In the next step, the floral grouping is placed into the interiorspace of the wrapper. The wrapper is then bound about the floralgrouping by crimping portions of the wrapper together causing at leastone portion of the wrapper to overlap at least one other portion of thewrapper such that the crimp connector engages the overlapping portionsof the wrapper together in a position surrounding and adjacent the stemportion of the floral grouping forming a crimped portion of the wrapperthereby firmly binding the wrapper in a position about the floralgrouping. A portion of the wrapper surrounding the floral grouping maythen be detached from the wrapper exposing the floral grouping.

[0094] The method may further comprise providing a pad of wrappers, thepad having a top wrapper and wherein a strip of bonding material on eachwrapper is bondingly connected to a portion of an adjacent wrapper forcooperating to connect the wrappers into the pad. The strip of bondingmaterial on each wrapper releasably connects each wrapper to one otherwrapper whereby one of the wrappers can be releasably disconnected fromanother wrapper by pulling the wrappers apart. Each wrapper may furthercomprise a detaching means.

[0095] The wrapper used in the method is constructed from a materialselected from the group of materials consisting of paper (treated oruntreated), cellophane, foil, polymer film, fabric (natural orsynthetic, woven or unwoven), or burlap or combinations thereof. Eachfirst or second surface of the wrapper may have a thickness in a rangefrom less than about 1 mil to about 30 mils.

[0096] The bonding material of the crimp connector may be selected fromthe group consisting of a pressure sensitive adhesive or cohesive, aheat sensitive adhesive or cohesive, a sonically sealable adhesive orcohesive, a vibratingly sealing adhesive or cohesive, or a chemicallysealing adhesive or cohesive.

[0097] The crimp connector may further comprise a cinching tab attachedto the wrapper and having the bonding material disposed upon a portionof the cinching tab. Also, the crimp connector may comprise a bondingmaterial disposed upon a portion of at least one surface of the wrapper.More specifically, the crimp connector may further comprise the bondingmaterial disposed upon a portion of the outer surface of at least one ofthe first or second surfaces of the wrapper.

[0098] More preferably, the crimp connector may further comprise thebonding material disposed upon a portion of the inner surface of atleast one of the first or second surfaces of the wrapper. Or, the crimpconnector may be a bonding material disposed upon portions of both theinner surfaces and the outer surfaces of the first and second surfacesof the wrapper. The wrapper further comprises detaching means forallowing detachment of a portion of the wrapper.

[0099] In another version of the present invention, the wrapper furthercomprises a closure flap extending from the wrapper for enclosing eitherthe upper end or the lower end or alternatively, both the upper end andlower end of the wrapper.

[0100] In another version of the invention, the crimp connector maycomprise both a cinching tab for wrapping about the crimped portion ofthe wrapper, and a bonding material disposed elsewhere on a surface ofthe wrapper.

[0101] In another version, the wrapper further comprises a label bondingmaterial disposed upon a surface of the wrapper for affixing a label toa portion of the wrapper. This label bonding material may be disposed ona wrapper having a crimp connector as disclosed herein, or on a wrappernot having a crimp connector.

[0102] In an alternative version of the invention, the method forwrapping a floral grouping may include the steps of providing a floralgrouping having an upper end and a stem portion, and providing a sheetof material. The sheet of material would comprise an upper surface, alower surface, a sheet connector and a crimp connector.

[0103] The sheet connector in this embodiment is disposed on at least afirst portion of the upper surface of the sheet of material forconnecting portions of the upper surface to portions of the lowersurface of the sheet of material during the wrapping step. The crimpconnector comprises a bonding material and serves to hold overlappingportions of the sheet of material in a crimped position adjacent thestem portion of the floral grouping.

[0104] The next step is to place the floral grouping on the uppersurface of the sheet of material and commence wrapping the sheet ofmaterial about the floral grouping. The wrapping causes portions of thelower surface of the sheet of material to overlap other portions of thesheet of material and causes bonding of the overlapping portions of thesheet of material by contacting the sheet connector on the upper surfacewith adjacent overlapping portions of the sheet of material whereby theoverlapped portion of the sheet of material is bonded to otheroverlapping portions of the sheet of material with the sheet of materialsubstantially encompassing and surrounding a substantial portion of thestem portion of the floral grouping forming a wrapper about the floralgrouping. Once wrapped, the wrapper generally has an opening extendingthrough the lower end thereof and an opening extending through the upperend thereof with a part of the stem portion of the floral groupingextending through the opening in the lower end and the upper end of thefloral grouping being exposed near the opening in the upper end thereof.

[0105] The final step is binding the sheet of material (i.e., thewrapper) about the floral grouping by crimping portions of the wrappertogether causing at least one portion of the wrapper to overlap at leastone other portion of the wrapper. As the crimp connector engages theoverlapping portions of the wrapper together in a position surroundingand adjacent the stem portion of the floral grouping, a crimped portionof the wrapper is formed thereby firmly binding the wrapper in aposition about the floral grouping. A portion of the wrapper may then bedetached from the crimped wrapper.

[0106] Another version of the invention comprises a method for wrappinga floral grouping and affixing a label thereto. The method comprisesproviding a floral grouping, and a wrapper such as described above. Thewrapper has a crimp connector and detaching means such as describedabove, and a label bonding material which comprises a bonding materialdisposed upon a portion of a surface of the wrapper for affixing a labelto a portion of the wrapper. A label is provided for affixing to thelabel bonding material. The steps for binding the floral grouping withthe wrapper are followed as described earlier, then the label is affixedto the wrapper.

[0107] In a similar fashion, the present invention may comprise wrappinga floral grouping with a sheet of material and affixing a label thereto.The sheet of material has a sheet connector as described above and acrimp connector and detaching means also described above.

[0108] The sheet of material further comprises a label bonding materialwhich further comprises a bonding material disposed upon a portion of asurface of the sheet of material for affixing a label to a portion ofthe sheet of material. A label is provided for affixing to the labelbonding material. The floral grouping is placed on the upper surface ofthe sheet of material. The sheet of material is wrapped about the floralgrouping as described above. And the wrapper is bound about the floralgrouping by crimping portions of the wrapper together. Finally, thelabel is affixed to the sheet of material.

[0109] In an alternative embodiment, the invention comprises a methodfor wrapping a floral grouping and affixing a label thereto, wherein thewrapper is a sheet of material having a sheet connector and detachingmeans as described above and a label bonding material comprising abonding material disposed upon a portion of a surface of the sheet ofmaterial for affixing a label to a portion of the sheet of material. Alabel is provided for affixing to the label bonding material, and thefloral grouping is placed on the upper surface of the sheet of material.The sheet of material is wrapped about the floral grouping as describedabove.

[0110] Finally, the label is affixed to the label bonding material ofthe sheet of material which comprises the wrapper. The label bondingmaterial may be disposed upon the upper surface of the sheet of materialor upon the lower surface of the sheet of material. Furthermore, thesheet of material may further comprise a closure flap extending from thesheet of material for enclosing the upper end, the lower end or both theupper end and lower end of the wrapper, once the floral grouping hasbeen wrapped with the sheet. Further, a portion of the wrapper may laterbe removed from the wrapper via a use of the detaching means.

[0111] The sheet of material may be provided from a pad of sheets ofmaterial, the pad having a top sheet of material and wherein the sheetconnector of each sheet of material is bondingly connected to a portionof an adjacent sheet of material for cooperating to connect the sheetsof material into the pad and wherein each sheet further comprises adetaching means as defined herein. In this instance, the sheet connectoron each sheet of material releasably connects each sheet of material toone other sheet of material whereby one of the sheets of material can bereleasably disconnected from another sheet of material by pulling thesheets of material apart.

[0112] The method may further comprise the step of wrapping the topsheet of material about the floral grouping by placing a portion of thetop sheet of material over at least a portion of the floral grouping androlling the top sheet of material and the floral grouping and wrappingthe top sheet of material about the floral grouping, the sheet connectoron the top sheet of material being bondingly connected to anotherportion of the top sheet of material for securing the top sheet ofmaterial in a wrapped position about the floral grouping and the topsheet of material being removed from the pad of sheets of material asthe top sheet of material is wrapped about the floral grouping.

[0113] The sheet of material may further be seen as comprising a firstside, a second side, a first end and a second end and the sheetconnector is on the upper surface of each sheet of material near oneside of the sheet of material and extending a distance therefrom to theother side, and wherein the step of wrapping the top sheet of materialabout the floral grouping further comprises: placing a portion of thetop sheet of material near the first side thereof over a portion of thefloral grouping and rolling the top sheet of material and the floralgrouping until the top sheet of material is rolled about the floralgrouping, the sheet connector on the top sheet of material bindinglyconnected to a portion of the top sheet of material as the top sheet ofmaterial and the floral grouping is rolled over the sheet connector. Thetop sheet of material may be disconnected from the pad as the top sheetof material and floral grouping are rolled over the pad whereby the topsheet of material is lifted from the pad and the bonding connectionbetween the top sheet of material and a next sheet of material isdisconnected.

[0114] The method may further comprise wrapping the top sheet ofmaterial about the floral grouping and disconnecting the top sheet ofmaterial from the pad leaving the next sheet of material forming a newtop sheet of material, and wherein the steps of placing the floralgrouping on the top sheet of material, and wrapping the top sheet ofmaterial about the floral grouping are repeated with other floralgroupings until substantially all of the sheets of material in the padhave been wrapped about the floral groupings.

[0115] As noted above the sheet of material is constructed from amaterial selected from the group of materials consisting of paper(treated or untreated), cellophane, foil, polymer film, fabric (naturalor synthetic, woven or unwoven), or burlap or combinations orlaminations thereof. Each sheet of material may have a thickness in arange from less than about 1 mil to about 30 mils.

[0116] As above, the bonding material of the sheet connector or of thecrimp connector may further comprise a bonding material selected fromthe group consisting of a pressure sensitive adhesive or cohesive, aheat sensitive adhesive or cohesive, a cold seal lacquer, adhesive ofcohesive, a sonically sealable adhesive or cohesive, a vibratinglysealing adhesive or cohesive, or a chemically sealing adhesive orcohesive.

[0117] As used herein, the term “detaching means” means any means ordevice attached to or integral to the wrapper which enables orfacilitates removal or detachment of a portion of the wrapper from theremainder of the wrapper. The detaching means may include, but is notlimited to, perforations, tear strips, zippers, creases and grooves.

[0118] Also as above, the crimp connector may further comprise acinching tab attached to the sheet of material and having a bondingmaterial disposed upon a portion thereof. The crimp connector may alsocomprises a bonding material disposed upon a portion of the upper orlower surface of the sheet of material. The sheet of material mayfurther comprise closure flaps extending from the sheet of material forenclosing the upper end, the lower end or both the upper end and lowerend of the wrapper.

[0119] The purpose of the crimp connector which comprises a strip ofbonding material is to connect and hold overlapping portions of thesheet of material in a position about the floral grouping. Similarly,the purpose of the crimp connector which comprises a cinching tabattached to the sheet of material and having a bonding material disposedon a portion thereof is to hold overlapping portions of the sheet ofmaterial in a position about the floral grouping.

[0120] It is noted that the crimp connector may comprise either a stripof bonding material disposed upon a portion of a surface of the sheet ofmaterial, or it may comprise a cinching tab attached to the sheet ofmaterial and having a bonding material disposed on a portion thereof, orthe crimp connector may comprise both a cinching tab and a bondingmaterial disposed upon a portion of the sheet of material.

[0121] In another version of the invention, the sheet of material mayhave a label bonding material disposed upon a surface of the sheet ofmaterial for affixing a label to a portion of the sheet of material.

[0122] The sleeves or sheets of material as described herein may furthercomprise a reservoir, such as a pouch attached to a surface of thesleeve or sheet, for containing materials such as water, preservatives,nutrients, gels, foams or decorative materials.

[0123] The sleeves or sheets of material described herein may furthercomprise handles or holes to allow the wrapped floral grouping to becarried more easily. These handles and portions of the sleeves withholes may be detachable from the remainder of the wrapper. Examples ofsleeves and sheets with handles can be found in copending U.S. Ser. No.07/922,971, entitled “A WRAPPER WITH HANDLE FOR WRAPPING A FLORALGROUPING” and U.S. Ser. No. 08/092,678, entitled “FLORAL GROUPINGWRAPPER WITH HANDLE INCORPORATED THEREIN”, both of which areincorporated herein by reference.

The Embodiments of FIGS. 1-3

[0124] Shown in FIG. 1 and designated therein by the general referencenumeral 10 is a sheet of material. The sheet of material 10 has a firstend 12, a second end 13, a first side 14, a second side 15, an uppersurface 16 and a lower surface 17.

[0125] The sheet of material 10 further comprises a sheet connector, acrimp connector and a detaching means. The sheet connector comprises aclosure bonding material which is described in more detail below. Thecrimp connector, comprises at least a bonding material for connectingoverlapping portions of the wrapper in a position about the stems of afloral grouping for binding the wrapper firmly to the floral grouping.The detaching means, as noted above, comprises a means or device, suchas perforations, for allowing a portion of the sheet 10 to be detachedonce it has been wrapped about a floral grouping. In the version of thepresent invention shown in FIG. 1, the crimp connector comprises acinching tab 18 having a first end 19, a second end 20 and a bondingmaterial 21 disposed on a portion of the cinching tab 18. The cinchingtab 18 is attached at the second end 20 to a portion of the sheet ofmaterial 10. In FIG. 1 the tab 18 is shown attached to a portion of thesheet 10 near the first side 14 of the sheet 10. But it will beunderstood by one of ordinary skill in the art that the tab 18 can beattached to any portion of the sheet 10 which enables the tab 18 tofunction in accordance with the invention as presently contemplated andas described in further detail below.

[0126] A closure bonding material 24 forms the sheet connector and maybe disposed on the upper surface 16 of the sheet of material.Alternatively, the sheet of material 10 may be free of such a closurebonding material. As shown in FIG. 1, the closure bonding material 24,if present, is disposed in a preferred embodiment adjacent the firstside 14 of the sheet of material 10 and extends between the first andthe second ends 12 and 13 of the sheet of material 10. As shown in FIG.1, the closure bonding material 24 is disposed on the upper surface 16in a strip of closure bonding material 24, although the closure bondingmaterial 24 also could be applied to the upper surface 16 of the sheetof material 10 in the form of spaced apart spots or the closure bondingmaterial 24 also could be disposed on the upper surface 16 of the sheetof material 10 in any other geometric form and in any pattern includingcovering the entire upper surface 16 of the sheet of material 10. Inthis last-mentioned instance, the closure bonding material and theconnecting bonding material would be contained within the bondingmaterial covering the sheet of material 10. The term “spot” or “spots”includes any geometric shape of spot including, but not limited to, whatis commonly referred to as strips.

[0127] In this version of the invention, the detaching means isrepresented by perforations 25 which are disposed in a predeterminedpattern on the sheet 10 for allowing separation of a portion of thesheet 10. The pattern of perforations 25 shown in FIG. 1 is but one ofmany conceivable patterns.

[0128] The sheet of material 10 has a thickness in a range from about0.1 mils to about 30 mils. Preferably, the sheet of material 10 has athickness in a range from about 0.1 mils to about 5 mils.

[0129] The sheet of material 10 may be any shape and a square orrectangular shape is shown in FIG. 1 only by way of example. The sheetof material 10 for example only may be square, rectangular, circular orany other geometric shape such as heart shaped, for example only.

[0130] The sheet of material 10 may be constructed of a single layer ofmaterial or a plurality of layers of the same or different types ofmaterials. Any thickness of the sheet of material 10 may be utilized inaccordance with the present invention as long as the sheet of material10 is wrappable about an object, such as a floral grouping or plant, asdescribed herein. The layers of material comprising the sheet ofmaterial 10 may be connected together or laminated or may be separatelayers, and the layers of material comprising the sheet of material 10need not be uniform in shape or composition.

[0131] Shown in FIG. 2 is a second sheet of material 26. The secondsheet of material 26 has a first end 28, a second end 30, a first side32, a second side 34, an upper surface 36 and a lower surface 38 anddetaching means such as represented here by perforations 27, similar innature to the perforations 25 in sheet 10. The second sheet of materialis preferably constructed of paper. The term “paper” as used hereinmeans treated or untreated paper, corrugated paper or cardboard or anyother form of paper material.

[0132] The first sheet of material 10 has a length 40 extending betweenthe first and the second sides 14 and 15 of the sheet of material 10.The first sheet of material 10 also has a width 41 extending between thefirst and the second ends 12 and 13 of the first sheet of material 10.The crimp connector, or cinching tab, 18 of the sheet of material 10 hasa length 42 and a width 43.

[0133] The second sheet of material 26 has a length 44 extending betweenthe first and the second sides 32 and 34 of the second sheet of material26. The second sheet of material 26 has a width 46 extending between thefirst and the second ends 28 and 30 of the second sheet of material 26.In a preferred embodiment, the length 44 of the second sheet of material26 is less than the length 40 of the first sheet of material 10 as shownin FIG. 3 so that, when the first sheet of material 10 is disposedadjacent the second sheet of material 26, a portion of the first sheetof material 10 adjacent the first side 14 thereof extends a distancebeyond the first side 32 of the second sheet of material 26, in a mannerand for reason which will be described in greater detail below.

[0134] The first sheet of material has a thickness in a range from about0.5 mils to about 30 mils and preferably the thickness of the firstsheet of material is in a range from about 0.5 mils to about 10 mils.The first sheet of material lo is constructed of a material which isflexible.

[0135] The second sheet of material 26 has a thickness in a range fromabout 0.1 mils to about 30 mils and preferably in a range from about 0.1mils to about 10 mils. The second sheet of material 26 is flexible, butrelatively rigid compared to the first sheet of material 10.

[0136] The second sheet of material 26 may be any shape and a square orrectangular shape is shown in FIG. 2 only by way of example. The secondsheet of material for example only may be square, rectangular, circularor any other geometric shape.

[0137] The second sheet of material 26 may be constructed of a singlelayer of materials or a plurality of layers of the same or differenttypes of materials. Any thickness of the second sheet of material 26 maybe utilized in accordance with the present invention as long as thesecond sheet of material 26 is wrappable about an object such as afloral grouping or plant, as described herein, and as long as the secondsheet of material 26 provides the rigidity described herein or theabsorbency described herein or both. The layers of material comprisingthe second sheet of material 26 may be connected together or laminatedor may be separate layers.

[0138] In operation, when a second sheet of material 26 is desired inaddition to the first sheet of material 10, the second sheet of material26 is placed adjacent the first sheet of material 10 as shown in FIG. 3.In this position, the lower surface 38 of the second sheet of material26 is disposed adjacent the upper surface 16 of the first sheet ofmaterial 10. The width 41 of the first sheet of material 10 is aboutequal to the width 46 of the second sheet of material 26 so that, whenthe first and the second sheets of material 10 and 26 are disposedadjacent each other, the first end 28 of the second sheet of material isgenerally aligned with the first end 12 of the first sheet of material10, the second end 30 of the second sheet of material 26 is generallyaligned with the second end 13 of the first sheet of material 10, thesecond side 15 of the first sheet of material 10 is generally alignedwith the second side 34 of the second sheet of material and the firstside 14 of the first sheet of material 10 extends a distance beyond thefirst side 32 of the second sheet of material 26 so that the closurebonding material 24 on the upper surface 16 of the first sheet ofmaterial 10 is exposed and not covered by the second sheet of material26.

[0139] It should be noted that the first and the second sheets ofmaterial 10 and 26 each could have virtually identical lengths 40 and44. In this case, the second sheet of material 26 is disposed on thefirst sheet of material 10 in such a manner that the second side 34 ofthe second sheet of material 26 extends a distance beyond the secondside 15 of the first sheet of material 10 whereby the first side 14 ofthe first sheet of material 10 is spaced a distance from the first side32 of the second sheet of material 26 thereby leaving the closurebonding material 24 on the first sheet of material 10 exposed and notcovered by the second sheet of material 26. And multiple sheets ofmaterial 10 and 26 may be used. Moreover, when multiple sheets ofmaterial 10 and 26 are used in combination, the sheets of material 10and 26 need not be uniform in size or shape. Finally, it will beappreciated that the sheets of material 10 and 26 shown in allembodiments herein are substantially flat.

[0140] In an alternative embodiment, the detaching means may be disposedonly on sheet 10, such that when it is desired to detach a portion ofsheet 10 via the perforations 25, the sheet 26 is left intact andthereby exposed.

[0141] As noted earlier, a sheet connector or closure bonding material,may be disposed on the upper surface of the first sheet of material 10.The closure bonding material 24 may be applied as a strip or as spots orother shapes. One method for disposing a closure bonding material, inthis case an adhesive, is described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,111,637 entitled“Method For Wrapping A Floral Grouping.” issued to Weder et al., on May12, 1992 and which is hereby incorporated herein by reference.

[0142] The first sheet of material 10 can be utilized alone or incombination with the second sheet of material 26 to wrap a floralgrouping. “Floral grouping” as used herein means cut fresh flowers,artificial flowers, a single flower other fresh and/or artificial plantsor other floral materials and may include other secondary plants and/orornamentation or artificial or natural materials which add to theaesthetics of the overall floral arrangement. The floral groupingcomprises a bloom or foliage portion and a stem portion. However, itwill be appreciated that the floral grouping may consist of only asingle bloom or only foliage (not shown). The term “floral grouping” maybe used interchangeably herein with the term “floral arrangement”.

[0143] The first sheet of material 10 or the second sheet of material 26may be constructed of a single layer of material or a plurality oflayers of the same or different types of materials. Any thickness of thesheet of material 10 or 26 may be utilized in accordance with thepresent invention as long as the sheet of material 10 or 26 may bewrapped or formed about at least a portion of a portion of a flower potor a floral grouping, as described herein. Additionally, an insulatingmaterial such as bubble film, preferable as one of two or more layers,can be utilized in order to provide additional protection for the itemwrapped therein.

[0144] In a preferred embodiment, the first sheet of material 10 isconstructed from two polypropylene films (a 20″×15″sheet of Mobil 270ABW white opaque film laminated to a 20″×15″sheet of Mobil 220 AB clearfilm) having a thickness in a range of from less than about 1.0 mil toabout 2.5 mils. The layers of material comprising the first sheet ofmaterial 10 may be connected together or laminated or may be separatelayers.

[0145] The sheet of material 10 is constructed from any suitablewrapping material that is capable of being wrapped about a floralgrouping. Preferably, the wrapping material 10 comprises paper(untreated or treated in any manner), cellophane, foil, polymer film,fabric (woven or nonwoven or synthetic or natural), burlap, orcombinations thereof.

[0146] The term “polymer film” means a man-made polymer such as apolypropylene or a naturally occurring polymer such as cellophane. Apolymer film is relatively strong and not as subject to tearing(substantially non-tearable), as might be the case with paper or foil.

[0147] The sheet of material 10 or 26 may vary in color. Further, thesheet of material 10 or 26 may consist of designs or decorative patternswhich are printed, etched, and/or embossed thereon using inks or otherprinting materials. An example of an ink which may be applied to thesurface of the sheet of material 10 or 26 is described in U.S. Pat. No.5,147,706 entitled “Water Based Ink On Foil And/Or synthetic organicpolymer” issued to Kingman on Sep. 15, 1992 and which is herebyincorporated herein by reference. In addition, the sheet of material 10or 26 may have various colorings, coatings, flocking and/or metallicfinishes, or other decorative surface ornamentation applied separatelyor simultaneously or may be characterized totally or partially bypearlescent, translucent, transparent, iridescent or the like,qualities. Each of the above-named characteristics may occur alone or incombination and may be applied to the upper and/or lower surface of thesheet of material 10 or 26. Moreover, each surface of the sheet ofmaterial 10 or 26 may vary in the combination of such characteristics.The sheet of material 10 or 26 itself may be opaque, translucent orpartially clear or tinted transparent.

Embodiments of FIGS. 4-8

[0148] Referring now to FIG. 4, a bonding material may be applied toeither the upper surface of a first sheet of material or to the lowersurface of a second sheet of material in a plurality of patches 48 forthe purpose of bonding the upper surface of the first sheet to the lowersurface of the second sheet. A detaching means such as perforations 25 ais disposed in the first sheet 10 a and second sheet 26 a.

[0149] Shown in FIG. 5 is a modified first sheet of material 10 bconnected to a modified second sheet of material 26 b. The first sheetof material 10 b is constructed exactly like the sheet of material 10.The second sheet of material 26 b is constructed like the sheet ofmaterial 26 described in detail before and shown in FIG. 2, except thesecond sheet of material 26 b includes a bonding material 60 disposed onthe lower surface 38 b of the second sheet of material 26 b. The bondingmaterial 60 is in the form of a plurality of spaced apart spots ofbonding material 60, similar to that shown in FIG. 4. The lower surface38 b of the second sheet of material 26 b is bondingly connected to theupper surface 16 b of the first sheet of material 10 b by way of thebonding material 60. Since the bonding material 60 is in the form of aplurality of spaced apart spots, a plurality of spaced apart spaces 62(only one of the spaces 62 being designated by reference numeral in FIG.5) are formed between the lower surface 38 b of the second sheet ofmaterial 26 b and the upper surface 16 b of the first sheet of material10 b. The spaces 62 provide air gaps which form an insulation when thefirst and the second sheets of material 10 b and 26 b are wrapped abouta floral grouping in a manner and for reasons like that describedherein.

[0150] Shown in FIG. 6 is a modified first sheet of material 10 cconnected to a modified second sheet of material 26 c. The first sheetof material 10 c is constructed exactly like the sheet of material 10shown in FIG. 1, except the first sheet of material 10 c includes abonding material 64 disposed on the upper surface 16 c of the firstsheet of material 10 c. The bonding material 64 is in the form of aplurality of spaced apart spots of bonding material 64, similar to thatshown in FIG. 5. The lower surface 38 c of the second sheet of material26 c is bondingly connected to the upper surface 16 c of the first sheetof material 10 c by way of the bonding material 64. Since the bondingmaterial 64 is in the form of a plurality of spaced apart spots, aplurality of spaces 66 (only one of the spaces 66 being designated by areference numeral in FIG. 6) are formed between the lower surface 38 cof the second sheet of material 26 c and the upper surface 16 c of thefirst sheet of material 10 c. The spaces 66 provide air gaps which forman insulation when the first and the second sheets of material 10 c and26 c are wrapped about a floral grouping in a manner and for reasonslike that described herein in connection with FIG. 5.

[0151] Shown in FIG. 7 is a modified first sheet of material 10 dconnected to a modified second sheet of material 26 d. The first sheetof material 10 d is constructed exactly like the sheet of material shownin FIG. 1, except the first sheet of material 10 d includes a bondingmaterial 68 on the upper surface 16 d thereof. The second sheet ofmaterial 26 d is constructed exactly like the second sheet of material26 shown in FIG. 2, except the second sheet of material 26 d includes aplurality of spaced apart raised portions 70. The raised portions 70 maybe formed by embossing the second sheet of material 26 d or formingcorrugations in the second sheet of material 26 d or in any other mannerdesired in any particular application.

[0152] The upper surface 16 d of the first sheet of material 10 d isdisposed generally adjacent the lower surface 38 d of the second sheetof material 26 d or, more particularly, adjacent the raised portions 70on the second sheet of material 26 d. In this position, the raisedportions 70 are bonded to the upper surface 16 d of the first sheet ofmaterial 10 d by way of the bonding material 68 to connect the firstsheet of material 10 d to the second sheet of material 26 d.

[0153] The spaced apart raised portions 70 on the second sheet ofmaterial 26 d form a plurality of spaces 72 between the first sheet ofmaterial 10 d and the second sheet of material 26 d in a connectedposition of the first and the second sheets of material 10 d and 26 dfor providing insulation when the first and second sheets of material 10d and 26 d are connected together and wrapped about a floral grouping ina manner like that described herein.

[0154] Shown in FIG. 8 is a modified first sheet of material 10 econnected to a modified second sheet of material 26 e. The first sheetof material 10 e is constructed exactly like the sheet of material 10shown in FIG. 1, except the first sheet of material 10 e includes aplurality of spaced apart raised portions 74. The raised portions 74 maybe formed in the first sheet of material 10 e by embossing the firstsheet of material 10 e or forming corrugations in the first sheet ofmaterial 10 e or in any other suitable manner. The second sheet ofmaterial 26 e is constructed exactly like the second sheet of material26 shown in FIG. 2, except the second sheet of material 26 e includes abonding material 76 disposed on the lower surface 38 e thereof.

[0155] In operation, the upper surface 16 e of the first sheet ofmaterial 10 e is disposed generally adjacent the lower surface 38 e ofthe second sheet of material 26 e or, more particularly, the raisedportions 74 on the first sheet of material 10 e are disposed adjacentthe lower surface 38 e of the second sheet of material 26 e. In thisposition, the first sheet of material 10 e is bondingly connected to thesecond sheet of material 26 e by way of the bonding material 76 on thesecond sheet of material 26 e or, more particularly, the bondingmaterial 76 on the second sheet of material 26 e bondingly engages andbondingly connects to the raised portions 74 on the first sheet ofmaterial 10 e to connect the first sheet of material 10 e to the secondsheet of material 26 e. In this connected position of the first sheet ofmaterial 10 e and the second sheet of material 26 e, the raised portions74 cooperate to form a plurality of spaces 76. Between the first sheetof material 10 e and the second sheet of material 26 e. The spaces 76cooperate to provide an insulation when the first and the second sheetsof material 10 e and 26 e are wrapped about a floral grouping or plantin a manner and for reasons like that described herein.

[0156] Although not indicated in the FIGS. 5-8, each sheet of materialdescribed therein comprises a detaching means as described herein.

Embodiments of FIGS. 9-11

[0157] Referring now to FIG. 9, a plurality of individual sheets ofmaterial 10 f are connected linearly together to form a roll 80.Preferably, the plurality of sheets of material 10 f in the roll 80 areconnected by perforations 82, as illustrated in FIG. 9. Such a roll 80permits one sheet of material 10 f to be withdrawn from the roll 80,then severed or disconnected from the roll 80. Alternatively, as shownin FIG. 10, the roll 80 may simply be formed as a continuous roll 80 ofwrapping material without perforations, wherein a plurality of sheets ofmaterial 10 f may be removed from the roll 80 by unrolling a portion ofthe roll 80, and using a separate cutting element (not shown) to severthe unrolled portion of the roll 80 of material to form the sheet ofmaterial 10 f. The roll 80 may also be contained within a dispenser 84,as illustrated in FIG. 10. When the roll 80 is disposed in the dispenser84, a portion of the wrapping material is again unrolled, and a serratedcutting edge 86 contained within the dispenser 84, or a separate cuttingelement (not shown), severs the unrolled portion of the wrappingmaterial from the roll 80 to form a sheet of material 10 f. Any numberof sheets of material 10 f may form the roll 80 as long as it ispossible to withdraw at least one sheet 10 f from the roll 80 asdescribed herein.

[0158] Each sheet 10 f of roll 80 is equipped with a cinching tab 18 fand a detaching means 25 f as shown in FIG. 9 wherein the tab 18 f isintegral with one end or side of a sheet 10 f. Alternatively, thecinching tab 18 f may be affixable to the sheet 10 f after the roll 80has been unrolled to expose sheet 10 f as shown in FIG. 10 and thedetaching means may be added later by adding perforations to the sheet.

[0159] As shown in FIG. 11, the first and the second sheets of materialdescribed herein can be provided in the form of a roll of first andsecond sheets of material wherein the first and the second sheets ofmaterial are unrolled from the roll of first and second sheets ofmaterial and the first and the second sheets of material are severedfrom the roll either by perforations at spaced apart locations in theroll or by cutting the first and the second sheets of material from theroll. It also should be noted that additional sheets of material may becombined with the first and the second sheets of material if so desiredin a particular application.

[0160] Shown in FIG. 11 is a roll of material 90 comprising a firstmaterial 92 and a second material 94 with the second material 94 beingdisposed adjacent the first material 92. The first material 94 isconstructed of any of the materials described before with respect to thefirst sheet of material. The second material 94 is constructed of any ofthe materials described before with respect to the second sheet ofmaterial.

[0161] The roll of material 90 may be disposed in a dispenser (notshown) having an opening through which the materials 92 and 94 may bewithdrawn from the roll of material 90. A cutting edge (not shown) maybe disposed on the dispenser near the opening. The cutting edge may be asawtooth type of edge or the cutting edge may be any other type of edgeor device suitable for cutting a portion of the materials 92 and 94 fromthe roll of material 90 and the cutting edge may be connected to thedispenser or may be a separate component if desired in particularapplication. The dispenser may further comprise a perforator forinserting perforations into the sheet at a predetermined location.

[0162] The roll of material 90 has a leading edge 102. In operation, theleading edge 102 is gripped or a portion of the first and/or the secondmaterials are gripped and the first and the second materials areunrolled and withdrawn from the roll of material 90 in a direction 104.The first and the second materials 92 and 94 are withdrawn or unrolledfrom the roll of material 90 until a desired length of the first and thesecond materials 92 and 94 have been withdrawn from the roll of material90. In this position, a portion of the first and the second materials 92and 94 are disposed adjacent the cutting edge. The first and the secondmaterials 92 and 94 then are maneuvered to pass the first and the secondmaterials 92 and 94 over the cutting edge thereby severing a portion ofthe material extending a distance from the leading edge 102 thereof fromthe roll of material 90. The portion of the first and the secondmaterials 92 and 94 withdrawn from the roll of material 90 and severedfrom the roll of material 90 comprise the first and the second sheets ofmaterial as described herein.

[0163] The first and the second materials 92 and 94 in the roll ofmaterial 90 may be connected or unconnected. Further, the roll ofmaterial 90 may comprise two rolls of material with one of the rolls ofmaterial comprising the first material 92 and the other roll of materialcomprising the second material 94. In this last-mentioned embodiment,the first material 92 is withdrawn from the first roll of material andthe second material 94 is withdrawn from the second roll of materialabout simultaneously so that the first and the second materials 92 and94 are provided in a manner as generally shown in FIG. 11 for severingfrom the first and second rolls of material to provide the first and thesecond sheets of material as described herein. The term “roll ofmaterial” as used herein is intended to encompass two or more rolls inthe manner generally described.

[0164] As shown in FIG. 11 the roll of material 90 is supported on agenerally mounted shaft 106. The first and the second sheets of material92 and 94 are withdrawn from the roll of material 90 until apredetermined length of the first and the second materials 92 and 94have been withdrawn from the roll of material 90. In this position, aportion of the first and the second materials 92 and 94 are disposedunder a knife edge 108. The knife edge 108 is connected to an actuator110 adapted to move the knife edge 108 in a direction 112 and in adirection 114. When the predetermined length of the first and the secondmaterials 92 and 94 have been withdrawn from the roll of material 90,the actuator 110 actuates to move the knife edge 108 in the direction112 to a position wherein the knife edge 108 severingly engages thematerials 92 and 94 to severingly cut a portion of the first and thesecond materials 92 and 94 from the roll of materials 90 to provide thefirst and the second sheets of material as described herein. Theactuator 110 may comprise a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder or a motorand gear arrangement or any other form of arrangement suitable formoving the knife edge 108 in the directions 112 and 114. After the knifeedge 108 has cuttingly severed the desired portion of the first and thesecond sheets of material 92 and 94 from the roll of material 90, theactuator 110 is actuated to move the knife edge 108 in the direction 114to a storage position disposed a distance above the first and the secondmaterials 92 and 94 as opposed to the cutting position previouslydescribed.

Embodiment of FIG. 12

[0165] Shown in FIG. 12 is a pad 116 of first sheets of materialdesignated by the reference numerals 10 f, 10 g, and 10 h in FIG. 12 anda plurality of second sheets of material designated in FIG. 12 by thereference numerals 26 f, 26 g and 26 h. The first sheets of material 10f, 10 g and 10 h may be constructed like the sheet of material 10 shownin FIG. 1 and described in detail before and the second sheets ofmaterial 26 f, 26 g and 26 h may be constructed like the second sheet ofmaterial 26 shown in FIG. 2 and described in detail before, or like anyof the other first and the second sheets of material described herein.Each sheet comprises a detaching means (not shown) as described herein.The first and the second sheets of material 10 f, 10 g, 10 h, 26 f, 26 gand 26 h are connected in the form of a pad 116 with the closure bondingmaterial 24 f, 24 g and 24 h cooperating to connect the first sheets ofmaterial 10 f, 10 g and 10 h in the form of the pad 116. The secondsheets of material 26 f, 26 g and 26 h may be connected to therespective first sheets of material 10 f, 10 g and 10 h or may beinterleaved between the adjacent first sheets of material 10 f, 10 g and10 h in the pad 116. In the alternative, the second sheets of material26 f, 26 g and 26 h may be connected to form the pad 116 with the firstsheets of material 10 f, 10 g and 10 h being interleaved in therespective second sheets of material 26 f, 26 g and 26 h and/orconnected thereto. In operation, the floral grouping may be placed onthe top sheet of material in the pad 116 and the first and the secondsheets of material comprising the top sheet of material may be wrappedabout the floral grouping and removed from the pad 116. In thealternative, one of the first sheets of material 10 f, 10 g or 10 halong with the adjacent second sheet of material 26 f, 26 g and 26 h maybe removed from the pad 116 and then wrapped about the floral groupingor flower pot.

Embodiments of FIGS. 13-18

[0166] As noted above, the present invention contemplates using thesheet of material 10 having a crimp connector comprising a cinching tab18 to wrap a floral grouping. A floral grouping 120 having a stem end122 and a bloom end 124 (FIG. 13) is disposed on the upper surface 16 ofthe sheet of material 10. The sheet of material 10 then is wrapped aboutthe floral grouping 120 by taking the second side 15 of the sheet ofmaterial 10 and rolling the sheet of material 10 in a direction 126about the floral grouping 120 (FIG. 14) and wrapping the detaching means25 circumferentially about the floral grouping 124. The sheet ofmaterial 10 is continued to be rolled about the floral grouping 120until a portion of the sheet connector, i.e., the closure bondingmaterial 24, is disposed adjacent a portion of the lower surface 17 ofthe sheet of material 10 and brought into bonding contact or engagementtherewith (FIG. 15) thereby bondingly connecting the closure bondingmaterial 24 on the upper surface 16 of the sheet of material 10 to aportion of the lower surface 17 of the sheet of material 10 forcooperating to secure the first sheet of material 10 in a wrappedcondition about the floral grouping 120 to provide a wrapper 130 wrappedabout the floral grouping 120, as shown in FIG. 15.

[0167] Such a method of wrapping is shown and described in detail inU.S. Pat. No. 5,181,364, entitled, “Wrapping a Floral Grouping WithSheets Having Adhesive Or Cohesive Material Applied Thereto,” whichissued Jan. 26, 1993. U.S. Pat. No. 5,181,364 is hereby incorporated byreference herein.

[0168] In the wrapped condition with the sheet of material 10 wrappedabout the floral grouping 120 as shown in FIG. 15, the wrapper 130 formsa conical shaped with an open upper end 132 and an open lower end 134.The wrapper 130 covers a portion of the bloom end 124 of the floralgrouping 120. A portion of the stem end 122 of the floral grouping 120extends through the opened lower end 134 of the wrapper 130 Theperforations 25 extend circumferentially about the stem end 122 or abouta portion of the flower end 124 of the floral grouping 120.

[0169] The wrapper 130 is caused to be more tightly wrapped about thefloral grouping 120 by grasping the cinching tab 18 and pulling thecinching tab 18 in a direction 135 about the lower end of the wrapper130. Once the tab 18 has been wrapped tightly about lower end of thewrapper 130, the portion of the tab 18 having the bonding material 21applied thereto is engagingly pressed against the wrapper 130 to affixthe tab 18 to the wrapper 130 thereby causing the lower end of thewrapper 130 to be crimpingly wrapped about the stem end 122 of thefloral grouping 120 for inhibiting the floral grouping 120 from slippingor moving excessively within the wrapper 130. If desired the upperportion of the wrapper 130 may be removed by detaching it at theperforations 25 by a method well known in the art thus leaving the lowerportion of the wrapper 130 crimped about a portion of the floralgrouping 120.

[0170] The crimping may be conducted as the floral grouping 120 iswrapped (not shown), or the crimping may be conducted after the floralgrouping is wrapped by crimping the sheet of material 10 in the area ofthe bonding material 120. Such crimping may be conducted by hand, bygrasping and substantially encompassing with one or more hands the lowerend of the wrapper 130, in the area of the bonding material 24, andevenly and firmly squeezing the sheet of material 10 about the area ofthe bonding material 24, thereby pressing and gathering both the sheetof material 10 against itself and against the stem end 122 of the floralgrouping 120 and the bonding material 24 against itself and against thestem end 122 of the floral grouping 120. The wrapper 130 may also becrimped by using both a crimping motion and a turning motion to create atwisted crimping (not shown), resulting in a wrapper 130 which is bothcrimped, as described previously, and which is twisted about the stemend 122 (the sheet of material 10 near the stem end 122 being rotatedbetween about one-eighth of a turn to about a full turn) primarily inthe area near the stem end 122 of the floral grouping 120. Such crimpingas described above may also be conducted by any instrument or machineused for gathering or crimping materials. The cinching tab 18 may beutilized to both crimp the wrapper 130 in a crimped condition, asdescribed above, that, is, the cinching tab may perform the crimping, aswell as retaining the wrapper 130 in a crimped condition.

[0171] At least a portion of the floral grouping 120 is disposed withinthe wrapper 130. In some applications, the stem end 122 of the floralgrouping 120 extends through the open lower end 134 of the wrapper 130,as described before. The bloom end 124 of the floral grouping 120 isdisposed near the open upper end 132 of the floral grouping 120 and thebloom end 124 of the floral grouping 120 is visible via the open upperend 132 of the wrapper 130. In some instances, the bloom end 124 of thefloral grouping 120 may extend beyond the open upper end 132 of thewrapper 130. In some applications, the upper end 132 of the wrapper 130may be closed if desired. In some applications, the lower end 134 of thewrapper 130 may be closed if desired.

[0172] The wrapper 130, formed from the sheet of material 10, as shownin FIGS. 15 and 16, is generally conically shaped. The sheet of material10 may also be wrapped about the floral grouping 130 to form acylindrically shaped wrapper 136 as shown in FIGS. 17-18 or any othershape wrapper if desired in a particular application. When the sheet ofmaterial 10 is wrapped cylindrically about the floral grouping 120 asshown in FIG. 17, the cinching tab 18 is disposed about the wrapper 130in exactly the same way as the conically shaped wrapper 130 shown inFIG. 16 yet still maintaining a generally cylindric shape as shown inFIG. 18.

[0173] When the floral grouping 120 is wrapped using both a first sheetof material 10 and a second sheet material 26, the floral grouping 120is disposed on the upper surface 36 of the second sheet of material 26.First and second sheets of material which are placed similarly to theplacement shown in FIG. 3 are then wrapped about the floral grouping 120in substantially the same manner that a single first sheet of material10 is wrapped about the floral grouping 120 to arrive at a conically orcylindrically wrapped floral grouping as described above whereby aclosure bonding material 24 on the first sheet is brought into bondingcontact or engagement therewith thereby bondingly connecting the closurebonding material 24 on the upper surface 16 of the first sheet ofmaterial 10 to a position of the lower surface 17 of the first sheet ofmaterial 10.

[0174] When used in the context of wrapping a floral grouping, thesecond sheet of material 26 is preferably constructed of a relativelyrigid, flexible sheet of material capable of being wrapped about thefloral grouping 120 whereby the second sheet of material 26 cooperatesto add rigidity to the first and the second sheets of material 10 and 26for cooperating to support the first and the second sheets of material10 and 26 wrapped about the floral grouping 120 in the form of thewrapper 130. Also, the second sheet of material 26 preferably isconstructed of an insulation type of material for providing insulationwhen the first and the second sheets of material 10 and 26 are wrappedabout the floral grouping 120 to form the wrapper 130. The second sheetof material 26 also preferably is capable of absorbing water so that,when the first and the second sheets of material 10 and 26 are wrappedabout the floral grouping 120 to form the wrapper 130, the second sheetof material 26 is disposed adjacent the floral grouping 120 and absorbswater from the floral grouping 120.

[0175] In addition, the second sheet of material 26 may be disposed onthe outer surface of the wrapper 130, rather than the inner surface ofthe wrapper 130 adjacent the floral grouping 120, if desired in aparticular application.

[0176] The term “bonding material” when used herein means an adhesive,preferably a pressure sensitive adhesive, or a cohesive. Where thebonding material is a cohesive, a similar cohesive material must beplaced on the adjacent surface for bondingly contacting and bondinglyengaging with the cohesive material. The term “bonding material” alsoincludes materials which are heat sealable and, in this instance, theadjacent portions of the material must be brought into contact and thenheat must be applied to effect the seal. The term “bonding material”also includes materials which are sonic sealable and vibratory sealable.The term “bonding material” when used herein also means a heat sealinglacquer which may be applied to the sheet of material and, in thisinstance, heat, sound waves, or vibrations, also must be applied toeffect the sealing.

[0177] The term “bonding material” when used herein also means any typeof material or thing which can be used to effect the bonding orconnecting of the two adjacent portions of the material or sheet ofmaterial to effect the connection or bonding described herein. The term“bonding material” also includes ties, labels, bands, ribbons, strings,tape, staples or combinations thereof. Some of the bonding materialswould secure the ends of the material while other bonding material maybind the circumference of the wrapper. Another way to secure thewrapping is to heat seal the ends of the material to another portion ofthe material. One way to do this is to contact the ends with an iron ofsufficient heat to heat seal the material.

[0178] The term “bonding material” when used herein also means any heator chemically shrinkable material, and static electrical or otherelectrical means, magnetic means, mechanical or barb-type fasteningmeans or clamps, curl-type characteristics of the film or materialsincorporated in the sheet of material which can cause the material totake on certain shapes, and any type of welding method which may weldportions of the sheet to itself or to the pot, or to both the sheetitself and the pot.

[0179] “Cling Wrap or Material” when used herein means any materialwhich is capable of connecting to the sheet of material and/or itselfupon contacting engagement during the wrapping process and is wrappableabout an item whereby portions of the cling material contactingly engageand connect to other portions of the wrapping material for generallysecuring the sheet of material wrapped about at least a portion of theitem. This connecting engagement is preferably temporary in that thewrapping material may be easily removed without tearing same, i.e., thecling material “clings” to the wrapping material. A wrapping materialwhich remains securely connected to and about the wrapped item until thewrapping material is torn therefrom.

[0180] The cling material is constructed and treated if necessary, frompolyethylene such as Cling Wrap made by Glad®, First Brands Corporation,Danbury, Conn. The thickness of the cling material will, in part, dependupon the thickness of the sheet of material utilized, i.e., generally,the thicker and therefore heavier sheet of material may require athicker and therefore stronger cling material. The cling material willrange in thickness from less than about 0.2 mils to about 10 mils, andpreferably less than about 0.5 mils to about 2.5 mils and mostpreferably from less than about 0.6 mils to about 2 mils. However, anythickness of cling material may be utilized in accordance with thepresent invention which permits the cling material to function asdescribed herein. It will be appreciated that the cinching tab 18, thesheet of material 10, or any portion of either, may comprise clingmaterial.

[0181] The term “botanical item” when used herein means a natural orartificial herbaceous or woody plant, taken singly or in combination.The term “botanical item” also means any portion or portions of naturalor artificial herbaceous or woody plants including stems, leaves,flowers, blossoms, buds, blooms, cones, or roots, taken singly or incombination, or in groupings of such portions such as bouquet or floralgrouping.

[0182] The term “propagule” when used herein means any structure capableof being propagated or acting as an agent of reproduction includingseeds, shoots, stems, runners, tubers, plants, leaves, roots or spores.

[0183] The term “growing medium” when used herein means any liquid,solid or gaseous material used for plant growth or for the cultivationof propagules, including organic and inorganic materials such as soil,humus, perlite, vermiculite, sand, water, and including the nutrients,fertilizers or hormones or combinations thereof required by the plantsor propagules for growth.

[0184] The term “band” when used herein means any material which may besecured about an object such as a flower pot, such bands commonly beingreferred to as elastic bands, rubber bands or non-elastic bands and alsoincludes any other type of material such as an elastic or non-elasticstring or elastic piece of material, non-elastic piece of material, around piece of material, a flat piece of material, a ribbon, a piece ofpaper strip, a piece of plastic strip, a piece of wire, a tie wrap or atwist tie or combinations thereof or any other device capable ofgathering the sheet of material to removably or substantiallypermanently form a crimped portion and secure the crimped portion formedin the sheet of material which may be secured about an object such asthe flower pot. The band also may include a bow if desired in aparticular application. Such a band may be included as a part of thecinching tab 18 or may comprise the cinching tab 18, however, thecinching tab 18 may not comprise a band, and the cinching tab 18 may beused without a band attached thereto as well.

[0185] The sheet of material used herein may further comprise at leastone scent (not shown). Examples of scents utilized herein include (butare not limited to) floral scents (flower blossoms, or any portion of aplant), food scents (chocolate, sugar, fruits), herb or spice scents(cinnamon), and the like. Additional examples of scents include flowers(such as roses, daisies, lilacs), plants (such as fruits, vegetables,grasses, trees), foods (for example, candies, cookies, cake), foodcondiments (such as honey, sugar, salt), herbs, spices, woods, roots,and the like, or any combination of the foregoing. Such scents are knownin the art, and are commercially available.

[0186] The scent may be disposed upon the sheet of material 10 byspraying the scent thereupon, painting the scent thereupon, brushing thescent thereupon, lacquering the scent thereupon, immersing the sheet ofmaterial in a scent-containing liquid, exposing the sheet of material toscent-containing gas, or any combination thereof.

[0187] The scent may be contained within a lacquer, or other liquid,before it is disposed upon the sheet of material 10. The scent may alsobe contained within a dye, ink, and/or pigment (not shown). Such dyes,inks and pigments are known in the art, and are commercially available,and may be disposed upon or incorporated in the sheet of material 10 byany method described herein or known in the art.

Embodiments of FIGS. 19A-20B

[0188] Shown in FIG. 19A and designated by the reference numeral 10 i isa sheet of material having a first end 12 i and a second end 13 i, afirst side 14 i and a second side 15 i and having an upper surface 16 iand a lower surface 17 i. Sheet 10 i is exactly the same as sheet 10described above in FIG. 1 except that the crimp connector is not acinching tab but is instead a strip of bonding material disposed uponone of the surfaces of the sheet 10 i. Disposed upon the upper side 16 iof the sheet 10 i is a wrapper connector comprising a strip of bondingmaterial designated by the numeral 24 i which covers a portion of theupper surface of the sheet of material and may be similar to the bondingmaterial 24 of sheet 10. The sheet 10 i further comprises a detachingmeans 25 i as described above for perforations 25. Additionally, asindicated in FIG. 19A a crimp connector comprising a second strip ofbonding material 140 i is disposed on the upper surface 16 i of thesheet 10 i. Shown in FIG. 20A and 20B is a sheet of material exactly thesame as sheet 10 i of FIG. 19A except that the crimp connector is abonding material 140 j disposed on a portion of the lower surface 15 jof the sheet of material 10 j.

Embodiments of FIGS. 21-26

[0189] Shown in FIG. 21 is a sheet of material 10 i exactly the same asthe sheet of material 10 i shown in FIG. 19A. Disposed upon the uppersurface 16 i of the sheet of material 10 i is a floral grouping 120having a stem end 122 and a bloom end 124. One method of wrapping thesheet of material 10 i about the floral grouping 120 is to draw thesheet 10 i at side 15 i in the direction 126 over the floral grouping120 thereby causing the lower surface 17 i of the sheet to become theexternally oriented surface of the wrapper. The sheet of material 10 iis wrapped about the floral grouping thus forming a wrapper 130 i inexactly the same way as is disclosed above in FIGS. 13-18.

[0190] Shown in FIG. 23 is a wrapper 130 i having a conical shape andpossessing the additional strip of bonding material 140 i. The bondingmaterial 140 i is disposed on the inner surface 16 i of the wrapper 130i facing the stems 122 of the floral grouping 120.

[0191] In operation, the portion of the wrapper 130 i in the vicinity ofthe strip of bonding material 140 i is tightly grasped and crimped aboutthe stems 122 of the floral grouping 120 thereby causing overlappingfolds in the portion of the wrapper 140 i adjacent the stems 122 to bebondingly connected thereby causing the portion of the wrapper 150 i tobe bound about the stems 122 thereby forming a connected portion 142 i.

[0192] Shown in FIG. 25 is the same sheet of material 10 i which hasbeen wrapped in a cylindrical fashion about the floral grouping 120thereby forming a cylindrically shaped wrapper 136 i about the floralgrouping substantially as shown above in FIG. 17. Bonding material 140 iis disposed on the inner surface 16 i of the wrapper 136 i and surroundsa portion of the stem portion 122 of the floral grouping 120. Thewrapper 136 i is grasped and crimped in the vicinity of the bondingmaterial 140 i thereby causing the wrapper to overlap each other and bebonded together about the stems 122 of the floral grouping 120 therebybinding the wrapper 136 i about the stems 122 thereby forming aconnected area 142 i about the stems 122.

Embodiments of FIGS. 27-32

[0193] Shown in FIG. 27 is the sheet of material 10 j as shown in FIG.20A here shown with the crimp connector, i.e., the bonding material 140j, disposed upon the surface 17 j of the sheet 10 j. The sheet ofmaterial 10 j can be wrapped about the floral grouping 120 exactly thesame as shown in FIGS. 21-26 to form a conically shaped wrapper 130 j asshown in FIG. 29 or a cylindrically shaped wrapper 136 j shown in FIG.31.

[0194] As shown in FIG. 30, the wrapper 130 j is grasped in proximity tothe bonding material 140 j and is crimped about the stems 122 of thefloral grouping 120 thereby causing portions of the wrapper 130 j tooverlap and engage with one another forming a connected crimped portion142 j of the wrapper 130 j about the floral grouping 120. Similarly tothat shown in FIG. 32, the wrapper 136 j and the bonding material 140 jis crimped about the stems 122 thereby forming a connected area 142 j ofthe wrapper 136 j about the stems 122 of the floral grouping 120disposed within the wrapper 136 j.

Embodiments of FIGS. 33-37

[0195] Shown in FIG. 33 is a wrapper generally designated by the numeral148. The wrapper 148 is of a type of wrapper referred to in the floralindustry as “sleeves”. The wrapper 148 in one version as embodied hereinis comprised of a first surface or sheet of material 150 having a firstupper end 152, a first lower end 154, a first left-hand side 156, afirst right-hand side 158, a first inner surface 160 and a first outersurface 162. The wrapper 148 further comprises a second surface or sheet164 which has a second upper end 166, a second lower end 168, a secondleft-hand side 170, a second right-hand side 172, a second inner surface174 and a second outer surface 176. The second sheet 164 is disposedupon the first sheet 150 whereby the first inner surface 160 is disposedadjacent the second inner surface 174. The first sheet 150 and thesecond sheet 164 may be of equal lengths. Alternatively, as shown inFIG. 33, one sheet may be longer than the other sheet, such as firstsheet 150 being slightly longer than second sheet 164. The firstleft-hand side 156 of the first sheet 150 rests upon and adjacent thesecond left-hand side 170 of the second sheet 164. Similarly, the firstright-hand side 158 of the first sheet 150 lies adjacent and upon thesecond right-hand side 172 of the second sheet 164. The first left-handside 156 of sheet 150 is sealed to the second left-hand side 170 of thesecond sheet 164 forming a left-hand seal 178. The first right-hand side158 of the first sheet 150 is sealed to the second right-hand side 172of the second sheet 164 thereby forming a right-hand seal 180. The firstsheet 150 and the second sheet 164 when sealed at seals 178 and 180 forma wrapper 148 having an open upper end 182 and an open lower end 184.The left-hand seal 178 and the right-hand seal 180 may be formed by anymethod to form a wrapper consistent with the use of present invention.Wrappers known as sleeves are well known by those of ordinary skill inthe art and are commercially available and have been used for many yearsin the floral industry.

[0196] The wrapper 148 may similarly be composed of a single sheet ofmaterial (not shown) which has been folded over to form two surfaces andis sealed on abutting sides of each surface thereby forming a sleevesimilar in appearance to the sleeve in FIG. 33 which has an open upperend and an open lower end. Similarly, a sleeve such as wrapper 148 maybe formed and sealed at the lower end thereby forming a sleeve orwrapper which has only an open upper end. The left-hand seal 178 and theright-hand seal 180 may be formed by adhesive methods, by heat-sealingmethods, by sonic-sealing methods or vibratory-sealing methods or anyappropriate method for forming a seal between two sheets. The wrapper148 further comprises a crimp connector 188 disposed on a portion of thewrapper 148. The connector 188 as shown in FIG. 33 is comprised of abonding material and release strip disposed upon a portion of the secondsheet of material 164 near the second right-hand side 172 of the secondsheet 164. The crimp connector has a double-sided adhesive 190 as shownin FIG. 34. One side of the double-sided adhesive 190 is adhesivelydisposed against the second sheet 164 and the other side of thedouble-sided adhesive 190 is covered by a release strip or tape 191which when removed exposes the adhesive 190.

[0197] The wrapper 148 further comprises at least a first detachingmeans such as a first plurality of perforations 192 a in first sheet 150for enabling the detachment of an upper portion of the wrapper 148 forexposing a portion of the floral grouping 120. The wrapper 148 mayfurther comprise a second detaching means, such as a second plurality ofperforations 192 b in the second sheet 164 for enabling the detachmentof an upper portion of the wrapper 148. If both perforations 192 a and192 b are employed, the entire upper portion of the wrapper 148,comprising the upper portions of both sheets 150 and 164 can be removed,revealing a portion of the floral grouping 120. A third detaching meanscomprising a third plurality of perforations 192 c and a fourthdetaching means comprising a fourth plurality of perforations 192 d maybe disposed in the wrapper 148, as indicated in FIG. 35. Theperforations 192 c and 192 d facilitate the use of only either theperforations 192 a or 192 b if only the upper portion of sheet 150 isdesired to be removed, or if only the upper portion of sheet 164 isdesired to be removed, respectively. For example, it may be desired toremove only the upper portion of the sheet 150, thereby exposing thefloral grouping 120 to view while maintaining the background provided bythe intact second sheet 164 for providing an enhanced decorative ordramatic effect.

[0198] In operation, as shown in FIG. 35 the wrapper 148 is opened toexpose the interior space 193 between the inner surface 160 of the firstsheet 150 and the inner surface 174 of the second sheet 164. A floralgrouping 120 exactly the same as floral grouping 120 described above isdisposed within the interior space 193 of the wrapper 148 such that thestems 122 are oriented near the lower end 184 of the wrapper 148 and theupper end 124 of the floral grouping 120 is disposed near the upper end182 of the wrapper 148. The release tape 191 is removed from theadhesive assembly 188 prior to the crimping of the wrapper about aportion of the floral grouping.

[0199] As shown in FIG. 36, a first overlapping portion 194 of thewrapper 148 is drawn in direction 196 and a second overlapping portion198 of the wrapper 148 is drawn in the direction 200 whereby thedouble-sided adhesive strip 190 is contacted to the first overlappingportion 194. The adhesive portion 190 is cinched tightly about thewrapper 148 and the portion of the wrapper 148 disposed thereabout iscrimped tightly about the stems 122 of the floral grouping 120 therebyforming overlapping portions of the wrapper 148 about the stems 122 ofthe floral grouping 120 to form a connected area 202 thereby causing thewrapper 148 to be held crimpingly and firmly about the stems 122. Thecrimp connector 188 may be formed from a bonding material other than anadhesive, such as the bonding materials described herein.

Embodiments of FIGS. 38-41

[0200] Shown in FIG. 38 is a wrapper designated by the general referencenumeral 148 a. The wrapper 148 a is exactly the same as the wrapper 148shown in FIGS. 33 and 35 except that the wrapper 148 a rather thanhaving an adhesive strip with a release strip has a crimp connectorcomprising a cinching tab 206 a which is exactly the same as cinchingtab 18 in FIG. 1 except that the cinching tab 206 a is attached toeither the first sheet or surface 150 a or the second sheet or surface164 a of the wrapper 148 a. The cinching tab 206 a has a first end 208a, a second end 210 a and a bonding material portion 212 a. Shown inFIG. 39 the cinching tab 206 a is an extension of the first sheet ofmaterial 150 a. However, it will be understood by one of ordinary skillin the art, that the cinching tab 206 a could also be comprised of anextension of the second sheet 164 a. Alternatively, the cinching 206 amay be a separate piece of material which is affixed to either the firstsheet 150 a or the second sheet 164 a.

[0201] As shown in FIGS. 40 and 41 the cinching tab 206 a is utilized inexactly the same manner as the cinching tab 18 a is used in FIGS. 16 and18 to cinch a sheet of material to form a conically shaped wrapper abouta floral grouping. Once the cinching tab 206 a is made to cinch thewrapper tightly about the stem portion 122, a connected area 214 a isformed from overlapped portions of the wrapper which are engaged witheach other about the stems 122 thereby tightly and crimpingly connectingthe wrapper 148 a in an orientation about the stem portion 122.

Embodiments of FIGS. 42-45

[0202] Shown in FIG. 42 is a wrapper designated by the general referencenumeral 148 b. The wrapper 148 b is exactly the same as the wrapper 148in FIGS. 33 and 35 except that the wrapper 148 b has an internallydisposed crimp connector comprising a bonding material 216 b rather thana bonding strip externally located. The internal bonding material 216 bis comprised of a first inner layer 218 b of bonding material and asecond inner layer 220 b of bonding material. The first inner layer 218b of bonding material is disposed upon a portion of the inner surface160 b of the first sheet of material 150 b. The second inner layer 220 bof bonding material is disposed upon a portion of the inner layer 174 bof the second sheet of material 164 b.

[0203] In operation, as shown in FIGS. 44 and 45 a floral grouping 120is disposed within the interior space 193 a of the wrapper 148 bsubstantially as described above. The wrapper 148 b is then grasped andcrimped in the vicinity of the internal closure bonding material 216 bforcing portions of the wrapper 148 b into overlapping folds in thevicinity of the internal closure bonding material 216 b thereby causingoverlapped portions of the inner surfaces of the wrapper 148 b tocrimpingly bond to each other and forming a crimped area 222 b in thewrapper 148 b in the vicinity about the stems 122 of the floral grouping120.

Embodiments of FIGS. 46-49

[0204] Shown in FIG. 46 is a wrapper 148 c which is exactly the same asthe wrapper shown in FIG. 39 and the wrapper shown in FIG. 42 exceptthat the crimp connector of wrapper 148 c comprises both a cinching tab206 c similar to the cinching tab 206 a of FIG. 39 and an internallydisposed bonding material 216 c which is exactly the same as theinternally disposed bonding material 216 b shown in FIG. 42. In theversion of the present invention shown in FIG. 46, both the cinching tab206 c and the internally disposed bonding material 216 c participate inthe effective crimping and bonding of the wrapper 148 c about the stems122 of the floral grouping 120 to form a crimped area 222 c in thewrapper 148 c which functions to hold the wrapper 148 c firmly againstthe stems 122 of the floral grouping 120.

[0205] In a preferred version of the method of the present invention,the internal bonding material 216 b and the portion of the wrapper 148 cproximate thereto is crimped about the stem portion 122 of the floralgrouping 120 thereby causing the wrapper 148 c to be crimpingly held inan orientation about the floral grouping 120. Next, the cinching tab 206c is wrapped about the crimped portion of the wrapper 148 c to furtherbind the wrapper 148 c close to the stem portion 122 of the floralgrouping 120.

Embodiments of FIGS. 50-53

[0206] Shown in FIG. 50 is a wrapper designated by the general referencenumeral 148 d. The wrapper 148 d is exactly the same as the wrapper 148b shown in FIG. 42 except that the bonding material is an externallydisposed bonding material 226 d which is disposed about a portion of theouter surface of the sheet 150 d and a portion of the outer surface ofthe sheet 164 d. The external bonding material is comprised of a layer228 d disposed on a portion of the first sheet 150 d and a second layer230 d disposed on a portion of the second sheet 164 d.

[0207] In operation, as shown in FIGS. 52 and 53 the wrapper 148 d canbe tightly crimped about the stems 122 of the floral grouping 120 byfirmly grasping and crimping the externally disposed bonding material226 d about the stems 122 thereby crimping a portion of the wrapper 148d into a crimped area 232 d about the stems 122. The wrapper 148 d, whencrimped about the stems 122 as shown in FIG. 53, appears substantiallysimilar to the crimped portion of the sheet of material 136 j as shownin FIG. 32.

Embodiments of FIGS. 54-57

[0208] Shown in FIG. 54 is a wrapper designated by the general referencenumeral 148 e. The wrapper 148 e is exactly the same as the wrapper 148c shown in FIG. 46 except that the bonding material used for crimpinglyforming the wrapper about the floral grouping 120 is an externallydisposed bonding material 226 e exactly the same as shown in FIG. 50rather than an internally disposed bonding material as shown in FIG. 46.The external bonding material operates in exactly the same way as theexternal bonding material 226 d in FIGS. 51-53. Additionally however,the cinching tab 206 e functions to cause the wrapper 148 e to be heldmore tightly about the stems 122 of the floral grouping 120 to form acrimped area 234 e of the wrapper 148 e about the stems 122 as shown inFIG. 57. The method of first crimping the externally disposed bondingmaterial 226 e, then wrapping the crimped portion with the cinching tab206 e is substantially similar to the method described for theembodiment of FIGS. 46-49, and described in more detail above.

Embodiment of FIG. 58

[0209] Shown in FIG. 58 is a wrapper designated by the general referencenumeral 148 f. The wrapper 148 f is exactly the same as the wrapper 148a shown in FIG. 38 and functions in exactly the same manner except thatthe wrapper 148 f additionally has an upper closure flap 240 f and alower closure flap 242 f. The upper closure flap 240 f further has anupper closure bonding strip 244 f and when the upper closure flap 240 fis folded in a direction 246 f against the upper surface of the wrapper148 f, the upper end of the wrapper 148 f is thereby closed. The lowerclosure flap has a lower closure bonding strip 248 f and when the lowerclosure bonding flap is folded in a direction 250 f against the wrapper148 f the lower end of the wrapper 148 f is thereby closed. In thismanner, the wrapper can be completely closed about a floral grouping 120disposed within the interior space thereof. It will also be understoodby one of ordinary skill in the art that any of the sheets of materialor sleeves or other wrappers described herein could be modified by theaddition of an upper closure flap or a lower closure flap.

[0210] It will also be noted that any of the strips of bonding materialdescribed herein may be protected by a release strip which can beremoved to expose the bonding material thereunder.

Embodiment of FIGS. 59-62

[0211] Shown in FIG. 59 is a sheet of material designated by the generalreference numeral 10 k and which is exactly the same as sheet 10 exceptfor the differences noted herein. The sheet of material 10 k has anupper surface 16 k and a lower surface 17 k and sheet connectorcomprising a strip of material 24 k comprising a closure bondingmaterial and further comprises a detaching means such as a plurality ofperforations 25 k as described elsewhere herein. The strip of closurebonding material 24 k is disposed upon the surface 16 k of the sheet 10k. The sheet 10 k further comprises a label connector which is a secondstrip 254 k of bonding material disposed on a portion of the surface 17k of the sheet of material 10 k as shown in FIGS. 59-62. The labelconnector 254 k serves to bond a card or label 256 k shown by way ofexample in FIG. 62. The card or label 256 k can be attached to thebonding material 254 k for the purposes of providing information to thepurchaser or user of the floral grouping disposed within the wrapper 130k or 136 k. The card or label 256 k may have printed thereon variousfloral indicia 258 k. The floral indicia 258 k may comprise a greetingsuch as “Happy Birthday” and may also provide a space indicating theidentity of the sender. The floral indicia also typically includes aspace for writing in the identity of the recipient of the floralgrouping. Any other greeting such as “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Easter”or any other form of greeting may be included on the front surface ofthe card or label 256 k. Also, the floral indicia 258 k may be in theform of care instructions relating to the particular floral grouping.The care instructions could include instructions as to the sunlightrequired by the particular plant, the watering instructions for theparticular plant or floral grouping, or any other instructions orinformation relating to the care of the particular plant associated withthe card or label 256 k. The floral indicia 258 k could also comprise aUPC code.

[0212] As shown in FIGS. 61 and 62, the sheet of material 10 k can bewrapped about the floral grouping 120 to form a conical wrapper 130 k ora cylindrical wrapper 136 k for the purpose of wrapping the floralgrouping. The label connector 254 k is exposed on the surface 17 k oncethe sheet of material 10 k has been wrapped about the floral grouping120. As shown in FIGS. 59-62, the sheet 10 k does not have a closure tabsuch as closure tab 18 of sheet 10. Alternately, a label connector 254 kcould be disposed upon the inner surface 16 k of the sheet for affixinga label 256 k within the wrapper. The perforations 25 k are shown asbeing located to the left of the label connector 254 k in FIG. 59, butit will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that theperforations 25 k could also be located to the right of the labelconnector or 254 k wherein when the upper portion of the wrapper 10 kwas removed, the label attached to the label connector 254 k would alsobe removed therewith.

Embodiments of FIGS. 63-66

[0213] Shown in FIG. 63 and designated by the general reference numeral10 m is a sheet of material exactly the same as the sheet of material 10k (comprising a plurality of perforations 25 m) except that the sheet ofmaterial 10 m further comprises a tab 18 m exactly as describedpreviously for sheet 10 described in FIG. 1. Sheet 10 m thereforecomprises a closure tab 18 m and a bonding strip 254 m located onsurface 17 m for bonding to a card or label as described in FIGS. 61 and62 and designated therein as card 256 k containing floral indicia 258 k.The sheet 10 m is wrapped about the floral grouping 120 exactly the sameas shown in FIGS. 13-18 with the exception that for the wrappers 130 mand 136 m shown in FIGS. 65 and 66, the bonding strip 254 m is disposedon the outside of the wrapper 130 m or 136 m for the purpose of bondinga card or label such as was discussed above. The perforations 25 m maybe located in any functionally useful arrangement on the sheet 10 m aswill be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art.

Embodiments of FIGS. 67-70

[0214] Shown in FIG. 67 and designated by the general reference numeral148 g is a wrapper exactly the same as wrapper 148 b described in FIG.42 except that the crimp connector, or bonding material, disposed on theinner surfaces 160 g and 174 g of the sleeve 148 b and designated by thereference numeral 216 g does not extend completely from one side of thewrapper to the other side as shown in FIG. 42 for wrapper 148 b. Thewrapper 148 g comprises instead a bonding material 216 g which isdisposed on continuous portions of the inner surfaces 160 g and 174 g ofthe sleeve 148 g except for a gap 260 g which interrupts the strip ofbonding material 216 g from extending entirely across the inner surfaces160 g and 174 g of the wrapper 148 g. This embodiment is represented inFIGS. 67 and 68. A strip of bonding material 218 g is disposed upon aportion of the inner surface 160 g of the sheet 150 g and a strip ofbonding material 220 g is disposed upon a portion of the inner surface174 g of the sheet 164 g of the wrapper 148 g.

[0215] In operation, the stem portion of a floral grouping can beextended through the gap 260 g of the wrapper 148 g for enclosing thefloral grouping 120.

[0216] Shown in FIG. 69 and designated by the general reference numeral148 h is a wrapper exactly the same as wrapper 148 c shown in FIG. 46except that the wrapper 148 h has a crimp connector comprising a bondingmaterial 216 h disposed upon the inner surfaces 160 h and 174 h of thewrapper 148 h exactly the same as the strip of bonding material 216 g isdisposed upon the inner surfaces 160 g and 174 g of the wrapper 148 g asshown in FIG. 67. That is, the strip of material 216 h does not extendentirely across the inner surfaces of the wrapper 148 h from one side tothe other but is interrupted by a gap 260 h in the bonding material. Thestems 122 of a floral grouping 120 can be extended through the gap 260 hfor increasing the ease of inserting the floral grouping 120 into thewrapper 148 h. The wrappers 148 g and 148 h can then be wrapped about afloral grouping exactly as shown in FIGS. 44 and 45, and FIGS. 48 and49, respectively.

Embodiments of FIGS. 71-74

[0217] Shown in FIG. 71 and designated by the general reference numeral10 n is a side view of a sheet of material constructed exactly the sameas the sheet of material 10 i shown in FIG. 19A except that the sheet ofmaterial 10 n comprises a crimp connector further comprising two stripsof bonding material, one on each of the upper surface 16 n and the lowersurface 17 n of the sheet of material 10 n. The first strip of bondingmaterial, on the upper surface 16 n, is designated by the generalreference numeral 262 n and the second strip of bonding material, on thelower surface 17 n of the sheet 10 n is designated by the generalreference numeral 264 n. The composition of the bonding material 262 nmay be the same or different from the composition of the bondingmaterial 264 n.

[0218] Shown in FIG. 72 and designated by the general reference numeral10 p is another sheet of material having a first strip of bondingmaterial 262 p on the upper surface 16 p and a second strip of bondingmaterial 264 p shown on the lower surface 17 p of the sheet of material10 p. The sheet of material 10 p is exactly the same as sheet ofmaterial 10 n except that the strips of bonding material 262 p and 264 pare offset from each other on opposite surfaces of the sheet asdemonstrated in FIG. 72. The strips may be fully offset or partiallyoffset from each other.

[0219] Shown in FIG. 73 and designated by the general reference numeral10 q is a sheet of material having an upper surface 16 q and a lowersurface 17 q and having a first strip of bonding material 262 q on theupper surface 16 q and a pair of strips of bonding material 264 q and266 q disposed on the lower surface 17 q of the sheet 10 q and in thesame general vicinity as, but opposite to, the strip of material 262 q.The strips 262 q, 264 q and 266 q may be slightly offset or whollyoffset or arranged in any number of orientations with regard to eachother in accordance with the present invention as will be appreciated byone of ordinary skill in the art.

[0220] Shown in FIG. 74 is a sheet of material 10 r having two strips ofbonding material on the upper surface 16 r and a single strip of bondingmaterial on the lower surface 17 r. The first strip of bonding material262 r is on the upper surface 16 r generally near the end 13 r of thesheet and the second strip of bonding material 264 r is on the lowersurface of 17 r of the sheet of material 10 r and the third strip ofbonding material 268 r is on the same surface of the sheet of material10 r as the strip of bonding material 262 r. As noted above thecomposition of the strips of bonding material can be identical ordifferent to each other and can be arranged in any one of a variety oforientations with regard to each other.

[0221] The sheets of material 10 n-10 r can be used in exactly the sameway as the sheet of material 10 i as shown in FIGS. 22-26 for forming awrapper about a floral grouping wherein the bonding strips 262 n-268 rare crimped together to form crimped overlapping portions of the wrapperwhich engage each other about the stems of the floral grouping therebyholding the wrapper in close proximity to the floral grouping 120.Moreover, each sheet 10 n-10 r comprises a detaching means such as thatdescribed for sheet 10 i for detaching a portion of the wrapper asdescribed elsewhere herein.

[0222] It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art that inthe process of wrapping any of the wrappers or sheets of materialdisclosed herein about a floral grouping or plant that the purpose ofthe bonding material is to cause overlapping portions of the wrapper orsheet of material forming the wrapper to adhere to other adjacentoverlapping portions of the wrapper or sheet thereby causing the wrapperor sheet of material to be held generally and firmly about the stems ofthe floral grouping. It will also be understood by one of ordinary skillin the art that the bonding material may partially bond or not bond atall to the stem portion of the floral grouping as the wrapper or sheetof material is crimped about the stems of the floral grouping to bindthe wrapper about the floral grouping.

[0223] When a sheet of material such as one of the sheets 10 n-10 r arecrimped about a floral grouping as described above, the overlappingportions of the inner surface of the sheet crimpingly engage otheroverlapping portions of the inner surface. Similarly, the overlappingportions of the outer surface of the sheet crimpingly engage otheroverlapping portions of the outer surface.

[0224] Also, envisioned within the context of the present invention arewrappers (sleeves) which have strips of crimping bonding material bothon the inner surfaces of the first and second surfaces of the wrapperand on the outer surfaces of the first and second surfaces of thewrapper. Each of the sheets of material or wrappers having such dualbonding strips as described herein may also have a cinching tab asdescribed above.

[0225] Also, envisioned are sheets of material having detaching meansdisposed elsewhere on the sheets of material or sleeves for enablingother modes of detachment of portions of the sheets of material orsleeves to expose various portions of the floral groupings containedtherein.

Embodiments of FIGS. 75-80

[0226] Shown in FIGS. 75 and 76 and represented by the general referencenumeral 130 are wrappers exactly like the wrapper 130 shown in FIG. 16except that a portion of the wrapper has been detached via the detachingmeans. In FIG. 75 a portion of the upper portion of the wrapper 130 hasbeen detached leaving the floral grouping 120 partially exposed. In FIG.76 an entire upper portion of the wrapper 130 has been detached leavingthe upper portion of the floral grouping 120 entirely exposed.

[0227] Shown in FIGS. 77 and 78 and represented by the general referencenumeral 130 i are wrappers exactly like the wrapper 130 shown in FIG. 24except that a portion of the wrapper has been detached via the detachingmeans. In FIG. 77 a portion of the upper portion of the wrapper 130 ihas been detached leaving the floral grouping 120 partially exposed. InFIG. 78 an entire upper portion of the wrapper 130 i has been detachedleaving the upper portion of the floral grouping 120 entirely exposed.

[0228] Shown in FIGS. 79 and 80 and represented by the general referencenumeral 148 b are wrappers exactly like the wrapper 148 b in FIG. 44except that a portion of the wrapper has been detached via the detachingmeans. In FIG. 79 a portion of the upper portion of the wrapper 148 bhas been detached leaving the floral grouping 120 partially exposed. InFIG. 80 an entire upper portion of the wrapper 148 b has been detachedleaving the upper portion of the floral grouping 120 entirely exposed.

[0229] It will be understood by one of ordinary skill in the art thatthe other versions of the present invention as embodied in the otherfigures disclosed herein may also possess portions which can be detachedto expose various portions of the floral groupings contained therein.

[0230] Changes may be made in the construction and the operation of thevarious components, elements and assemblies described herein or in thesteps or the sequence of steps of the methods described herein withoutdeparting from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method for wrapping a floral grouping,comprising: providing a floral grouping having an upper end and a stemportion; providing a wrapper having an upper end and a lower end andhaving: an inner surface surrounding an interior space and having anouter surface, a crimp connecting means comprising a bonding materialdisposed upon a portion of at least one of the inner surface and theouter surface, the crimp connecting means for holding overlappingportions of the wrapper in a crimped position adjacent the stem portionof the floral grouping, and detaching means for detaching a portion ofthe wrapper after the wrapper has been bound about the floral grouping;placing the floral grouping into the interior space of the wrapper; andbinding the wrapper about the floral grouping by crimping portions ofthe wrapper together causing at least one portion of the wrapper, thecrimp connecting means engaging the overlapping portions of the wrappertogether in a position surrounding and adjacent the stem portion of thefloral grouping forming a crimped portion of the wrapper thereby firmlybinding the wrapper in a position about the floral grouping.
 2. Themethod of claim 1 wherein in the step of providing the wrapper the crimpconnecting means further comprises a cinching tab attached to thewrapper and having the bonding material disposed upon a portion of thecinching tab.
 3. The method of claim 1 wherein in the step of providingthe wrapper the crimp connecting means further comprises the bondingmaterial disposed upon a portion of the outer surface of the wrapper. 4.The method of claim 1 wherein in the step of providing the wrapper thecrimp connecting means further comprises the bonding material disposedupon a portion of the inner surface of the wrapper.
 5. The method ofclaim 1 wherein in the step of providing the wrapper the crimpconnecting means further comprises the bonding material disposed uponportions of both the inner surfaces and the outer surfaces of thewrapper.
 6. The method of claim 1 wherein in the step of providing awrapper the wrapper further comprises closure means extending from thewrapper for enclosing the upper end, the lower end or both the upper endand lower end of the wrapper.
 7. The method of claim 1 wherein in thestep of providing a wrapper further comprises providing a wrapper havinga label bonding material disposed upon a surface of the wrapper foraffixing a label to a portion of the wrapper.
 8. The method of claim 1comprising the additional steps of detaching a portion of the wrapperafter the wrapper has been bound about the floral grouping.
 9. A methodfor wrapping a floral grouping, comprising: providing a floral groupinghaving an upper end and a stem portion; providing a wrapper having: afirst surface, the first surface having an inner surface, an outersurface, an upper end, a lower end, a left-hand side and a right-handside, a second surface, the second surface having an inner surface, anouter surface, an upper end, a lower end, a left-hand side and aright-hand side, and wherein the first surface and the second surfaceare disposed flatwise upon each other, the inner surface of the firstsurface facing the inner surface of the second surface and furtherwherein the left-hand side of the first surface and the left-hand sideof the second surface are sealed together and the right-hand side of thefirst surface and the right-hand side of the second surface are sealedtogether forming an interior space between the first surface and thesecond surface and into which a floral grouping is disposable, a crimpconnecting means comprising a bonding material, the crimp connectingmeans for holding overlapping portions of the wrapper in a crimpedposition adjacent the stem portion of the floral grouping, and detachingmeans for detaching a portion of the wrapper after the wrapper has beenbound about the floral grouping; placing the floral grouping into theinterior space of the wrapper; and binding the wrapper about the floralgrouping by crimping portions of the wrapper together causing at leastone portion of the wrapper to overlap at least one other portion of thewrapper, the crimp connecting means engaging the overlapping portions ofthe wrapper together in a position surrounding and adjacent the stemportion of the floral grouping forming a crimped portion of the wrapperthereby firmly binding the wrapper in a position about the floralgrouping.
 10. The method of claim 9 wherein the step of providing awrapper further comprises providing a pad of wrappers, the pad having atop wrapper and wherein a strip of bonding material on each wrapper isbondingly connected to a portion of an adjacent wrapper for cooperatingto connect the wrappers into the pad.
 11. The method of claim 10 whereinin the step of providing a pad of wrappers, a strip of bonding materialon each wrapper releasably connects each wrapper to one other wrapperwhereby one of the wrappers can be releasably disconnected from anotherwrapper by pulling the wrappers apart.
 12. The method of claim 9 whereinin the step of providing a wrapper the wrapper is constructed from amaterial selected from the group of materials consisting of paper(treated or untreated), cellophane, foil, polymer film, fabric (naturalor synthetic, woven or unwoven), or burlap or combinations thereof. 13.The method of claim 10 wherein in the step of providing a pad ofwrappers, each of the wrappers is constructed from a material selectedfrom the group of materials consisting of paper (treated or untreated),cellophane, foil, polymer film, fabric (natural or synthetic, woven orunwoven), or burlap or combinations thereof.
 14. The method of claim 9wherein in the step of providing the wrapper each first or secondsurface of the wrapper has a thickness in a range from less than about 1mil to about 30 mils.
 15. The method of claim 9 wherein in the step ofproviding the wrapper the bonding material of the crimp connecting meansfurther comprises a bonding material selected from the group consistingof a pressure sensitive adhesive or cohesive, a heat sensitive adhesiveor cohesive, a cold seal adhesive or cohesive, a sonically sealableadhesive or cohesive, a vibratingly sealing adhesive or cohesive, or achemically sealing adhesive or cohesive.
 16. The method of claim 9wherein in the step of providing the wrapper the crimp connecting meansfurther comprises a cinching tab attached to the wrapper and having thebonding material disposed upon a portion of the cinching tab.
 17. Themethod of claim 9 wherein in the step of providing the wrapper the crimpconnecting means comprises the bonding material disposed upon a portionof at least one surface of the wrapper.
 18. The method of claim 17wherein in the step of providing the wrapper the crimp connecting meansfurther comprises the bonding material disposed upon a portion of theouter surface of at least one of the first or second surfaces of thewrapper.
 19. The method of claim 17 wherein in the step of providing thewrapper the crimp connecting means further comprises the bondingmaterial disposed upon a portion of the inner surface of at least one ofthe first or second surfaces of the wrapper.
 20. The method of claim 17wherein in the step of providing the wrapper the crimp connecting meansfurther comprises the bonding material disposed upon portions of boththe inner surfaces and the outer surfaces of the first and secondsurfaces of the wrapper.
 21. The method of claim 9 wherein in the stepof providing a wrapper the wrapper further comprises closure meansextending from the wrapper for enclosing the upper end, the lower end orboth the upper end and lower end of the wrapper.
 22. The method of claim21 wherein in the step of providing a wrapper, the crimp connectingmeans further comprises a cinching tab for wrapping about the crimpedportion of the wrapper.
 23. The method of claim 9 wherein in the step ofproviding a wrapper further comprises providing a wrapper having a labelbonding material disposed upon a surface of the wrapper for affixing alabel to a portion of the wrapper.
 24. The method of claim 9 comprisingthe additional step of detaching a portion of the wrapper after thewrapper has been bound about the floral grouping.
 25. A method forwrapping a floral grouping, comprising: providing a floral groupinghaving an upper end and a stem portion; providing a sheet of materialhaving: an upper surface, a lower surface, a sheet connecting meanscomprising a bonding material disposed on at least a first portion ofthe upper surface of the sheet of material for connecting portions ofthe upper surface of the sheet to portions of the lower surface of thesheet of material during the wrapping step, a crimp connecting meanscomprising a bonding material, the crimp connecting means for holdingoverlapping portions of the sheet of material in a crimped positionadjacent the stem portion of the floral grouping, and detaching meansfor detaching a portion of the sheet of material after the sheet ofmaterial has been wrapped about the floral grouping; placing the floralgrouping on the upper surface of the sheet of material; wrapping thesheet of material about the floral grouping causing portions of thelower surface of the sheet of material to overlap other portions of thesheet of material and bonding the overlapping portions of the sheet ofmaterial by contacting the sheet connecting means on the upper surfacewith adjacent overlapping portions of the sheet of material whereby theoverlapped portion of the sheet of material is bonded to otheroverlapping portions of the sheet of material with the sheet of materialsubstantially encompassing and surrounding a substantial portion of thestem portion of the floral grouping forming a wrapper about the floralgrouping, the wrapper having an opening extending through the lower endthereof and an opening extending through the upper end thereof with apart of the stem portion of the floral grouping extending through theopening in the lower end and the upper end of the floral grouping beingexposed near the opening in the upper end thereof; and binding thewrapper about the floral grouping by crimping portions of the wrappertogether causing at least one portion of the wrapper to overlap at leastone other portion of the wrapper, the crimp connecting means engagingthe overlapping portions of the wrapper together in a positionsurrounding and adjacent the stem portion of the floral grouping forminga crimped portion of the wrapper thereby firmly binding the wrapper in aposition about the floral grouping.
 26. The method of claim 25 whereinthe step of providing a sheet of material further comprises providing apad of sheets of material, the pad having a top sheet of material andwherein the sheet connecting means of each sheet of material isbondingly connected to a portion of an adjacent sheet of material forcooperating to connect the sheets of material into the pad.
 27. Themethod of claim 26 wherein in the step of providing a sheet of materialthe sheet connecting means on each sheet of material releasably connectseach sheet of material to one other sheet of material whereby one of thesheets of material can be releasably disconnected from another sheet ofmaterial by pulling the sheets of material apart.
 28. The method ofclaim 26 wherein the step of wrapping the top sheet of material aboutthe floral grouping further comprises: placing a portion of the topsheet of material over at least a portion of the floral grouping androlling the top sheet of material and the floral grouping and wrappingthe top sheet of material about the floral grouping, the sheetconnecting means on the top sheet of material being bondingly connectedto another portion of the top sheet of material for securing the topsheet of material in a wrapped position about the floral grouping andthe top sheet of material being removed from the pad of sheets ofmaterial as the top sheet of material is wrapped about the floralgrouping.
 29. The method of claim 28 wherein in the step of wrapping thesheet of material the sheet of material further comprises a first side,a second side, a first end and a second end and the sheet connectingmeans is on the upper surface of each sheet of material near one side ofthe sheet of material and extending a distance therefrom to the otherside, and wherein the step of wrapping the top sheet of material aboutthe floral grouping further comprises: placing a portion of the topsheet of material near the first side thereof over a portion of thefloral grouping and rolling the top sheet of material and the floralgrouping until the top sheet of material is rolled about the floralgrouping, the sheet connecting means on the top sheet of materialbindingly connected to a portion of the top sheet of material as the topsheet of material and the floral grouping is rolled over the sheetconnecting means and the top sheet of material being disconnected fromthe pad as the top sheet of material and floral grouping are rolled overthe pad whereby the top sheet of material is lifted from the pad and thebonding connection between the top sheet of material and a next sheet ofmaterial is disconnected.
 30. The method of claim 25 wherein in the stepof wrapping the top sheet of material about the floral grouping anddisconnecting the top sheet of material from the pad leaves the nextsheet of material forming a new top sheet of material, and wherein thesteps of placing the floral grouping on the top sheet of material, andwrapping the top sheet of material about the floral grouping arerepeated with other floral groupings until substantially all of thesheets of material in the pad have been wrapped about the floralgroupings.
 31. The method of claim 25 wherein in the step of providingthe sheet of material the sheet of material is constructed from amaterial selected from the group of materials consisting of paper(treated or untreated), cellophane, foil, polymer film, fabric (naturalor synthetic, woven or unwoven), or burlap or combinations thereof. 32.The method of claim 25 wherein in the step of providing the sheet ofmaterial each sheet of material has a thickness in a range from lessthan about 1 mil to about 30 mils.
 33. The method of claim 25 wherein inthe step of providing the sheet of material the bonding material of thesheet connecting means or of the crimp connecting means furthercomprises a bonding material selected from the group consisting of apressure sensitive adhesive or cohesive, a heat sensitive adhesive orcohesive, a cold seal adhesive or cohesive, a sonically sealableadhesive or cohesive, a vibratingly sealing adhesive or cohesive, or achemically sealing adhesive or cohesive.
 34. The method of claim 25wherein in the step of providing the sheet of material the crimpconnecting means further comprises a cinching tab attached to the sheetof material and having a bonding material disposed upon a portionthereof.
 35. The method of claim 25 wherein in the step of providing thesheet of material the crimp connecting means further comprises a bondingmaterial disposed upon a portion of a surface of the sheet of material.36. The method of claim 35 wherein in the step of providing the sheet,the crimp connecting means further comprises a strip of bonding materialdisposed upon a portion of the upper surface of the sheet of material.37. The method of claim 35 wherein in the step of providing the sheetthe crimp connecting means further comprises a strip of bonding materialdisposed upon a portion of the lower surface of the sheet of material.38. The method of claim 25 wherein in the step of providing a sheet ofmaterial the sheet of material further comprises a closure flapextending from the sheet of material for enclosing the upper end, thelower end or both the upper end and lower end of the wrapper.
 39. Themethod of claim 34 wherein in the step of providing a sheet of material,the crimp connecting means further comprises a strip of bonding materialdisposed upon a portion of a surface of the sheet of material forfurther connecting and holding overlapping portions of the sheet ofmaterial in a position about the floral grouping.
 40. The method ofclaim 35 wherein in the step of providing a sheet of material, the crimpconnecting means further comprises a cinching tab attached to the sheetof material and having a bonding material disposed on a portion thereoffor further holding overlapping portions of the sheet of material in aposition about the floral grouping.
 41. The method of claim 35 whereinin the step of providing the sheet of material the crimp connectingmeans further comprises the bonding material disposed upon portions ofboth the inner surfaces and the outer surfaces of the first and secondsurfaces of the sheet of material.
 42. The method of claim 25 wherein inthe step of providing a sheet of material further comprises providing asheet of material having a label bonding material disposed upon asurface of the sheet of material for affixing a label to a portion ofthe sheet of material.
 43. The method of claim 25 comprising theadditional step of detaching a portion of the sheet of material afterthe sheet of material has been wrapped about the floral grouping.
 44. Amethod for wrapping a floral grouping and affixing a label thereto,comprising: providing a floral grouping having an upper end and a stemportion; providing a wrapper having: a first surface, the first surfacehaving an inner surface, an outer surface, an upper end, a lower end, aleft-hand side and a right-hand side, a second surface, the secondsurface having an inner surface, an outer surface, an upper end, a lowerend, a left-hand side and a right-hand side, and wherein the firstsurface and the second surface are disposed flatwise upon each other,the inner surface of the first surface facing the inner surface of thesecond surface and further wherein the left-hand side of the firstsurface and the left-hand side of the second surface are sealed togetherand the right-hand side of the first surface and the right-hand side ofthe second surface are sealed together forming an interior space betweenthe first surface and the second surface and into which a floralgrouping is disposable, a crimp connecting means comprising a bondingmaterial, the crimp connecting means for holding overlapping portions ofthe wrapper in a crimped portion adjacent the stem portion of the floralgrouping, a label bonding material comprising a bonding materialdisposed upon a portion of a surface of the wrapper for affixing a labelto a portion of the wrapper, and detaching means for detaching a portionof the wrapper after the wrapper has been bound about the floralgrouping; providing a label for affixing to the label bonding material;placing the floral grouping into the interior space of the wrapper;binding the wrapper about the floral grouping by crimping portions ofthe wrapper together causing at least one portion of the wrapper tooverlap at least one other portion of the wrapper, the crimp connectingmeans engaging the overlapping portions of the wrapper together in aposition surrounding and adjacent the stem portion of the floralgrouping forming a crimped portion of the wrapper thereby firmly bindingthe wrapper in a position about the floral grouping; and affixing thelabel to the wrapper.
 45. The method of claim 44 comprising theadditional step of detaching a portion of the wrapper after the wrapperhas been bound about the floral grouping.
 46. A method for wrapping afloral grouping and affixing a label thereto, comprising: providing afloral grouping having an upper end and a stem portion; providing asheet of material having: an upper surface, a lower surface, a sheetconnecting means comprising a bonding material disposed on at least afirst portion of the upper surface of the sheet of material forconnecting portions of the upper surface of the sheet to portions of thelower surface of the sheet of material during the wrapping step, a crimpconnecting means comprising a bonding material, the crimp connectingmeans for holding overlapping portions of the sheet of material in acrimped position adjacent the stem portion of the floral grouping, alabel bonding material comprising a bonding material disposed upon aportion of a surface of the sheet of material for affixing a label to aportion of the sheet of material, and detaching means for detaching aportion of the sheet of material after the sheet of material has beenwrapped about the floral grouping; providing a label for affixing to thelabel bonding material; placing the floral grouping on the upper surfaceof the sheet of material; wrapping the sheet of material about thefloral grouping causing portions of the lower surface of the sheet ofmaterial to overlap other portions of the sheet of material and bondingthe overlapping portions of the sheet of material by contacting thesheet connecting means on the upper surface with adjacent overlappingportions of the sheet of material whereby the overlapped portion of thesheet of material is bonded to other overlapping portions of the sheetof material with the sheet of material substantially encompassing andsurrounding a substantial portion of the stem portion of the floralgrouping forming a wrapper about the floral grouping, the wrapper havingan opening extending through the lower end thereof and an openingextending through the upper end thereof with a part of the stem portionof the floral grouping extending through the opening in the lower endand the upper end of the floral grouping being exposed near the openingin the upper end thereof; binding the wrapper about the floral groupingby crimping portions of the wrapper together causing at least oneportion of the wrapper to overlap at least one other portion of thewrapper, the crimp connecting means engaging the overlapping portions ofthe wrapper together in a position surrounding and adjacent the stemportion of the floral grouping forming a crimped portion of the wrapperthereby firmly binding the wrapper in a position about the floralgrouping; and affixing the label to the sheet of material.
 47. Themethod of claim 46 comprising the additional step of detaching a portionof the sheet of material after the sheet of material has been wrappedabout the floral grouping.
 48. A method for wrapping a floral groupingand affixing a label thereto, comprising: providing a floral groupinghaving an upper end and a stem portion; providing a sheet of materialhaving: an upper surface, a lower surface, a sheet connecting meanscomprising a bonding material disposed on at least a first portion ofthe upper surface of the sheet of material for connecting portions ofthe upper surface of the sheet to portions of the lower surface of thesheet of material during the wrapping step, a label bonding materialcomprising a bonding material disposed upon a portion of a surface ofthe sheet of material for affixing a label to a portion of the sheet ofmaterial, and detaching means for detaching a portion of the sheet ofmaterial after the sheet of material has been wrapped about the floralgrouping; providing a label for affixing to the label bonding material;placing the floral grouping on the upper surface of the sheet ofmaterial; wrapping the sheet of material about the floral groupingcausing portions of the lower surface of the sheet of material tooverlap other portions of the sheet of material and bonding theoverlapping portions of the sheet of material by contacting the sheetconnecting means on the upper surface with adjacent overlapping portionsof the sheet of material whereby the overlapped portion of the sheet ofmaterial is bonded to other overlapping portions of the sheet ofmaterial with the sheet of material substantially encompassing andsurrounding a substantial portion of the stem portion of the floralgrouping forming a wrapper about the floral grouping, the wrapper havingan opening extending through the lower end thereof and an openingextending through the upper end thereof with a part of the stem portionof the floral grouping extending through the opening in the lower endand the upper end of the floral grouping being exposed near the openingin the upper end thereof; and affixing the label to the label bondingmaterial of the sheet of material.
 49. The method of claim 48 whereinthe step of providing a sheet of material further comprises providing apad of sheets of material, the pad having a top sheet of material andwherein the sheet connecting means of each sheet of material isbondingly connected to a portion of an adjacent sheet of material forcooperating to connect the sheets of material into the pad.
 50. Themethod of claim 49 wherein in the step of providing a sheet of materialthe sheet connecting means on each sheet of material releasably connectseach sheet of material to one other sheet of material whereby one of thesheets of material can be releasably disconnected from another sheet ofmaterial by pulling the sheets of material apart.
 51. The method ofclaim 49 wherein the step of wrapping the top sheet of material aboutthe floral grouping further comprises: placing a portion of the topsheet of material over at least a portion of the floral grouping androlling the top sheet of material and the floral grouping and wrappingthe top sheet of material about the floral grouping, the sheetconnecting means on the top sheet of material being bondingly connectedto another portion of the top sheet of material for securing the topsheet of material in a wrapped position about the floral grouping andthe top sheet of material being removed from the pad of sheets ofmaterial as the top sheet of material is wrapped about the floralgrouping.
 52. The method of claim 51 wherein in the step of wrapping thesheet of material the sheet of material further comprises a first side,a second side, a first end and a second end and the sheet connectingmeans is on the upper surface of each sheet of material near one side ofthe sheet of material and extending a distance therefrom to the otherside, and wherein the step of wrapping the top sheet of material aboutthe floral grouping further comprises: placing a portion of the topsheet of material near the first side thereof over a portion of thefloral grouping and rolling the top sheet of material and the floralgrouping until the top sheet of material is rolled about the floralgrouping, the sheet connecting means on the top sheet of materialbindingly connected to a portion of the top sheet of material as the topsheet of material and the floral grouping is rolled over the sheetconnecting means and the top sheet of material being disconnected fromthe pad as the top sheet of material and floral grouping are rolled overthe pad whereby the top sheet of material is lifted from the pad and thebonding connection between the top sheet of material and a next sheet ofmaterial is disconnected.
 53. The method of claim 48 wherein in the stepof wrapping the top sheet of material about the floral grouping anddisconnecting the top sheet of material from the pad leaves the nextsheet of material forming a new top sheet of material, and wherein thesteps of placing the floral grouping on the top sheet of material, andwrapping the top sheet of material about the floral grouping arerepeated with other floral groupings until substantially all of thesheets of material in the pad have been wrapped about the floralgroupings.
 54. The method of claim 48 wherein in the step of providingthe sheet of material the sheet of material is constructed from amaterial selected from the group of materials consisting of paper(treated or untreated), cellophane, foil, polymer film, fabric (naturalor synthetic, woven or unwoven), or burlap or combinations thereof. 55.The method of claim 48 wherein in the step of providing the sheet ofmaterial each sheet of material has a thickness in a range from lessthan about 1 mil to about 30 mils.
 56. The method of claim 48 wherein inthe step of providing the sheet of material the label bonding materialis disposed upon the upper surface of the sheet of material.
 57. Themethod of claim 48 wherein in the step of providing the sheet ofmaterial the sheet of material further comprises a closure flapextending from the sheet of material for enclosing the upper end, thelower end or both the upper end and lower end of the wrapper.
 58. Themethod of claim 48 wherein in the step of providing the sheet ofmaterial the label bonding material further comprises a bonding materialselected from the group consisting of a pressure sensitive adhesive orcohesive, a heat sensitive adhesive or cohesive, a cold seal adhesive orcohesive, a sonically sealable adhesive or cohesive, a vibratinglysealing adhesive or cohesive, or a chemically sealing adhesive orcohesive.
 59. The method of claim 48 comprising the additional step ofdetaching a portion of the sheet of material after the sheet of materialhas been wrapped about the floral grouping.